One Piece: The Jumping Pirates!
by Maxulus
Summary: Max is a young man who wants to be the Pirate King. Despite the troubles he had over finding a person to join him, Max ended up recruiting Arthur, a weird swordsman around his age whose best friend is his teddy bear, Mr. Hug. Follow the adventures of Max and Arthur across West Blue, as Max makes his way into the Grand Line! OCs accepted.
1. The swordsman with the teddy bear

It is the second great pirate era! With the death of the second pirate king, Monkey D. Luffy, the shape of the world completely changed. Many new people decided to set sail across the seas, chasing the dreams and hoping to find the legendary treasure the pirate king left behind. The question is... Who is going to find it?

"I just can't figure out how to start!" a young man said inside a bar while taking a deep breath and messing with his curly, dark colored hair. He had slightly tan skin and he wore a black tight t-shirt and blue colored jeans with black shoes. However, even if his way of dressing was something ordinary, he had a feature nobody could ignore. His pupils were white colored, making him look as if he lacked pupils. "How am I going to find any people to join me?" he asked himself while scratching his head.

"Problems?" the bartender made a question while cleaning a glass of water.

"Indeed." the young man seemed sad. "It's been a month ever since I started my career as a pirate and I can't really find people who want to assist me. I had different expectations." he said, while taking another deep breath again. He was obviously sad because of his lack of comrades.

"I know a guy who can't find a crew to join but..." the bartender spoke his words before moving his face close to the young man's. "He is a weirdo." he whispered to the young man.

"And why is that?" the young man questioned the bartender with curiosity. "Oh wait, it doesn't matter. I just need to know where he is. I'm desperate." he stopped the bartender before he replied to his question. "I'd rather figure it out by myself."

"I can give you his adress but I warn you... You might change your mind later." he explained.

"If you don't give me his adress, I will change my mind over pursuing a pirate career... So it doesn't matter anyway. Just tell me where I can find him." he commented and he grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil, handing it to the bartender so he could write it down.

"Fine..." were the words of the bartender, who shook his head with disappointment while typing down the information the young man needed.

* * *

About an hour later, somewhere near the town's square, the young man can be seen knocking the door of a small hut. In the middle of the town with the beautiful houses which were made of marble, there was a hut in which the mysterious man was living. Although the young man had not seen him, he could guess that he was somewhat weird as his house was the creepiest out of all the houses around. The door was made of wood and there were a few holes at the hut's wooden walls, although almost nothing could be seen through them. Only a few objects could be seen thanks to the sun's light.

"How could one live in here?" the young man wondered while knocking the door.

"Yes?" a lazy voice was heard from the inside.

"Erm, I am searching for a man named Arthur." he spoke what he wanted to speak. "Is he inside?"

"Yes. I am Arthur... But what are you? Are you a pirate or a marine?"

"I am a pirate of course. I want you to join my crew. I was told you are looking for a crew and I need a hand or two."

"Huh? Me?" the door was opened immediately and Arthur revealed himself. He was a medium in terms of height man, almost as tall as the young man. He wore a leather brown colored jacket and black colored pants. He was blond and he had green colored eyes. Finally, he carried a katana at his waist.

"Erm... Nice to meet you Arthur." the young man looked down at the swordsman.

"Nice to meet you captain." Arthur said.

"Let me guess... From the way you dress and the way you smell, I don't think you happen to have anything to take along with you, do you?" he asked, guessing that Arthur actually didn't have any other clothes to wear.

"No, I don't. But I have a friend I always carry with me." he proved his captain's prediction to be half wrong. While he didn't have any clothes he had to prepare for his journey, there was actually one thing he wanted to take along with him.

"Your sword?" the captain predicted again.

"No... There is Mr. Hug. He is my only friend." he said, proving the captain to be wrong once more.

"Mr. Hug? Huh?" the young captain with the white eyes scratched his head again, in a similar way he did inside the bar.

"Let me show you." Arthur stepped into the house and got outside a few seconds later, showing him a teddy bear. "Here he is." he showed the teddy bear to the captain. He was a green colored teddy bear, being as half of Arthur's arm.

"Okay, I guess." were the words of the captain who was getting even more confused. "I should have asked what the bartender meant, after all." he thought. "How will I set sail along with this guy?" he kept thinking while looking at the sky. Then, a few seconds later when he moved his head downwards to look at Arthur, he noticed that he carried the teddy bear at his shoulders, playing with it. "Oh shit..." he kept thinking.

"Where is your ship, captain?" Arthur asked, changing the subject. "Is it nearby?" he asked.

"Well, I have it docked at the port. It's not away from here, I think."

"You don't think captain. It isn't."

"So... Now that you brought it up... Shall we go?" the young captain asked and his new subordinate nodded. "Great." he completed while walking towards the port.

And while the two comrades would walk together, Arthur finally proceeded to make a question to the captain.

"Captain... I haven't asked you yet... What is your name?"

"Oh, I forgot. My name is Million Max and I am the one who is going to become the king of the pirates!" Max gave his name to his subordinate with a proud voice, answering to his question!

"And the crew's name?" Arthur kept making questions.

"That? You will find out soon!"

* * *

**[Next: After recruiting Arthur into his crew, Max encounters an enemy pirate ship on his way to the next island, making his first enemy!]**

**[Characters Appearing: Million Max, the bartender, Arthur]**

**[I am also accepting OCs for those who are interested to see their own character into the story]  
**


	2. The man who ate the Jump Jump Fruit

After recruiting a swordsman who hadn't taken a bath for years and also used to have a teddy bear as his best friend, Max finally set sail into the seas, heading for his very first adventure. However, his life at the seas is apparently not as easy as he expected.

"Captain! Help!" Arthur was heard worried about something.

"Hm, what?" Max got outside his cabin, while yawning. "Do we have a problem?" he asked.

"Don't you see?! We are under attack!" Arthur pointed at a ship that was shooting at them.

"What?!" Max's jaw dropped on the floor while looking at a cannon ball coming towards the ship. However, before it could hit the ship, Arthur moved the ship out of the way, avoiding it at the last second.

"Oh, shit that was close." he mentioned and gulped. "Prepare the cannons, captain."

"Which cannons?" Max asked, surprised.

"Hey, hey... Don't tell me..."

"Have you seen any cannons around? We don't even have a pirate flag yet." the captain commented.

"You are joking aren't... YOU!" Arthur's eyes popped out when he stared and noticed that the crew was indeed lacking a jolly roger, realizing that the captain was not lying at all. "WHERE IS THE FLAG?! A FLAG IS A PIRATE CREW'S PRIDE!" Arthur scolded his captain.

"Just shut up and move the ship near the enemies. We are going to fight them by ourselves." Max thought of a plan.

"You don't even know who they are! What if they are some dangerous pirate like the Demon Pirates or the Yinyang Pirates?" Arthur disagreed with the captain.

"Those are your orders, Arthur... Just listen to me. I don't care who they are... Whether they are warlords or just regular pirates, I am ready to take them on and make a name for myself. The more infamous they are the better for me." he said.

"Bullshit!"

"The bartender was right. You are a weirdo. I can figure out now why you couldn't find a crew." the young captain said.

"Look who is talking!" Arthur said.

"TRAVELERS! SURRENDER YOUR SHIP AND YOUR GOLD OR WE WILL KEEP SHOOTING!" a man was heard speaking from the attacking ship. The small caravel ship of Max and Arthur was much closer by that time to the enemy ship and so it was possible for the captains of both ships to communicate by raising their voices.

"AND WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME TO SURRENDER MY SHIP?!" Max questioned the enemy with a loud voice, as well.

"OH WELL... I AM NORAYAH TACT, HEAD OF THE TACT PIRATES! I HAVE A BOUNTY OF 3,000,000 BERI ON MY HEAD!" the enemy replied.

"I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF YOU!" Max said.

"ME NEITHER!" Arthur's voice echoed to the background.

"WE AS WELL!" the voices of a few people were heard from the enemy ship.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EVEN YOUR OWN SUBORDINATES DO NOT KNOW WHO ARE!" Max remarked while laughing.

"STOP MAKING FUN OF ME, IDIOTS!" Norayah complained to his subordinates.

"SORRY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the subordinates laughed at him.

"MAY I ASK SOMETHING, NOW?" Arthur made a question.

"YES?" Norayah asked.

"WHY ARE WE STILL YELLING? OUR SHIPS ARE NEXT TO EACH OTHER!" he pointed out that they already reached them. The small caravel ship which Max had was able of traveling quite fast. That was the main reason he had such a type of ship, after all. Although his ship was fragile, it was capable of crossing distances in a somewhat short period of time.

"He is right." Norayah's subordinates agreed.

"So... That's how you look, huh?" Max performed a high jump, landing at Norayah's ship before he spoke to him. He looked at him. Norayah was dressed with a pink colored cotton blouse which was completely covering his neck. Above the blouse, he was wearing a purple colored short sleeved robe which reached his feet. His shoes were black colored, just like his hair and his eyes.

"Your eyes are weird." the enemy looked at Max's eyes.

"And your way of dressing is weird as well." Max replied to Norayah's comment.

"We told you captain!" all of Norayah's subordinates agreed with Max.

"You all are jealous!" yelled the enemy captain at his subordinates and Max. "Whatever, let's get serious... Will you give me your ship or not? I need it to create my great fleet at the future." he demanded Max's ship and explained the reason he wanted it.

"You are kidding me, aren't you?" Max laughed with the enemy again.

"No, I am not." he said and he grabbed a gun from the pockets of his robe. "I will give you one last chance... I will count up to three and shoot, unless you change your mind of course."

"Okay."

"One..." Norayah placed a bullet at the gun.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah." Max yawned.

"Two..." the enemy kept counting and pointed with the gun at Max.

"Seriously, aren't you done yet?"

"Three!" Norayah finally shot the young man.

"Jump!" Max performed a high and quick jump, dodging the bullet and landing right behind Norayah. Then, he grabbed Norayah from behind as if he was hugging him and with a smile on his face, he spoke out a few words. "You have already lost, Norayah."

"What do you mean?!" Norayah couldn't really believe in Max's words.

"I am a jumperman who has eaten the Jump Jump Fruit... I can jump fast and extremely high along with anything or anybody I carry, without using any strength at all."

"WHAT?!" Norayah's eyes twitched.

"Jump!" Max performed a very high jump, reaching a distance of 100 meters from the sea's surface with ease.

"Shit!" Norayah was in agony.

"THROW!" Max moved his hands and grabbed the enemy's right hand, before throwing him with great force far away, resulting in him falling into the sea. As Norayah fell into the sea, a small wave was caused because of the force of the attack.

"Awesome!" Arthur smiled while looking at the abilities of his captain.

"CAPTAIN!" Norayah's subordinates were worried.

"Chk... That was easy." Max dived from the sky towards his ship, setting foot on it.

"You didn't tell me you were a fruit user." Arthur smiled to his captain.

"You didn't ask me." Max replied.

"Oh yes... Now that I remember... I also asked you how this crew is called but you haven't told me the name yet. I want to know how people are about to call us."

"Oh, right..." Max immediately turned towards Norayah's subordinates. "If anybody asks you who defeated your captain without taking a single hit, tell them that the Jumping Pirates were behind it. Mark this name... We will make a name for ourselves in the future!" Max smiled.

"You are quite optimistic, aren't you?" Arthur tried to understand Max's personality a little bit more.

"If that's a synonym to "the third pirate king" then yes, I am optimistic!" Max commented while still keeping that smile on his face, which was a little bit disturbing considering his white colored pupils.

"You remind me of Mr. Hug. He is also optimistic."

"Huh?"

"What's weird?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, nothing..." Max scratched his head out of awkwardness. "Anyway, just steer the ship away."

"Fine!" Arthur agreed and the two started sailing away after the battle against the captain of the Tact Pirates was finished. Max defeated his first enemy with ease!

* * *

**[Next: The Jumping Pirates arrive at their first destination. However, they quickly get in trouble as the fearsome Bounty Hunting Duo is also there!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Norayah Tact, Tact Pirates]**

**[Devil Fruits: Jump Jump Fruit]**


	3. Jumping Pirates vs Bounty Hunting Duo

After finding himself engaged in a battle against the captain of the Tact Pirates, Max finally got his first win over an enemy during his pirate career. He quickly defeated Norayah and he spread the word of his crew's existence to the enemy crew. Now, along with Arthur, one day later since the incident, Max is enjoying a cup of coffee on a nearby island's cafeteria, while Arthur is reading the newspaper.

"How is the coffee?" Arthur asked out of curiosity to his captain.

"It's great. You should have asked for some."

"Meh, I prefer tea."

"Why so?"

"Mr. Hug doesn't like coffee so we used to only drink tea... I got used to tea eventually." Arthur explained.

"Bullshit... How can he not like coffee yet be able to stand your stench? I mean seriously... I am almost three days with you and I can't still get used to it."

"Stench? What stench?" Arthur looked surprised.

"Forget about it..." Max said. "Drink your tea."

"Indeed, I will." Arthur raised his cup of tea in order to drink but while he had the hot tea into his mouth he read something that made him spit out of surprise at Max's face.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Max was burned by the hot tea.

"You won't believe it!" Arthur spoke to Max.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! WHY DID I BRING A GUY LIKE YOU INTO MY CREW ANYWAY?!" he complained because of Arthur's weird behavior. He was not only a man who talked with his teddy bear and carried a bad stench, he also used to spit his tea at his captain's face.

"Stop acting like a baby and listen... According to the newspaper, you already got a bounty on your head. The Tact Pirates were found and arrested by the marines after you defeated their captain and they claimed that you were behind their captain's defeat. You have been given a bounty of 5,000,000 beri on your head." Arthur gave a summary of the article he read.

"Oh wait a minute... This demands a proper reaction." Max said and he raised his cup of coffee, drinking a little bit of it. Then, he spit it at Arthur's face, seemingly in surprise before yelling out of excitement. "YES! I ALREADY GOT A BOUNTY ON MY HEAD!"

"Ssssssssssssssssssssssh! We don't want people to listen to us." Arthur commented while cleaning the coffee from his face with some paper he carried inside his pockets.

"Nope! I want people to know it! Otherwise, how are they going to want to join me?" he explained, before looking at Arthur's face. Apparently, his eyes had twitched and he looked somewhat scared, while a shadow surrounded Max. Somebody was probably behind him.

"Erm, Max... I think we have company." Arthur pointed at the person who was standing behind Max.

"Yes?" Max turned his head, looking at a man who was almost twice his size. He had short brown colored hair, light blue eyes and a brown goatee. He had a scar below his left eye. He wore a blue colored shirt and black colored pants with black sports shoes. He was very muscular and he had an angry expression on his face.

"You said you were a pirate, boy?" his angry expression turned into a smile.

"That's right! I am the man who is going to become the Pirate King!" Max gave an answer to the tall man's question.

"Seriously, you got to stop telling this all the time... Just how many more times will I listen to it?" Arthur commented, but he was most likely ignored.

"You look pretty confident. I like you. This will make it easier for me." the tall man said before grabbing Max from the neck, lifting him with one hand and throwing him at the cafeteria's wall with brute strength.

"Shit!" Arthur got up from the chair and unsheathed his sword.

"Hm? Are you fighting, too?" the tall man looked down at the blond man.

"Why would you do this?!" Arthur didn't see that coming.

"Boy... Haven't you heard of Don Beast of the Bounty Hunting Duo before?" the man replied, making Arthur gulp. "Because if you did, then you get to know me." he punched the table, breaking it quite easily.

"Crap!" Arthur thought. "That guy is a monster... I heard he has managed to capture more than fifty pirates here at West Blue ever since he has started his career as a bounty hunter. Some people even wonder why he hasn't got into the Grand Line yet... We and our stupid luck... Why did we end up in front of him THAT quickly?" he kept thinking while sweating.

"Why are you sweating, Arthur?" Max got up and stretched himself. "We got ourselves another enemy. It's a chance for us to fight and get stronger, I think." Max suggested while messing with his hair, an habit he used to have.

"Max, you don't know who that guy is, that's why you are so calm..." Arthur said.

"I see... It looks like you actually heard about me, boy." Beast spoke to Arthur.

"I like reading newspapers." Arthur said. "They are warning me to avoid people like you." he said.

"Enough with the chat, Arthur. I think we have an enemy to face, don't you agree?" Max grabbed a chair and he threw it at the man, although the chair actually broke upon striking him.

"Ouch! That tickled." Beast made fun of Max's attack before moving towards him, in an attempt to punch him in the face.

"Jump!" Max jumped at the right, dodging the incoming punch and he clenched his fist. Then, he swiftly run at the side of Beast and he moved his arm performing an uppercut, while naming his technique "Jumping Uppercut!".

"Hm?" Beast turned his head at the right moment to get punched into the chin. While the attack did not have too much strength, thanks to Max's Jump Jump Fruit powers, it sent him upwards at the cafeteria's ceiling, ultimately crushing it and almost breaking it. Then, Beast's body fell on the floor again with the face looking at it.

"DAMN! Those two are serious! Get out!" the few people who were around started evacuating the place.

"Hm..." Arthur was thinking of something, before he got out along with the people who evacuated the place.

"Oh boy... You are a fruit user, aren't you?" Beast got up and looked at Max. "You people are a pain in the ass." he remarked.

"How did you figure out?" Max didn't expect Beast to realize his powers that early.

"It was obvious... Your punch was a strong one, but not strong enough to normally send me flying. I really wonder what kind of power you have, though... Is it antigravity?"

"You are smarter than I expected... You may call it antigravity. I am a jumperman who ate the Jump Jump Fruit."

"That sounds weak, boy... I waited for something more challenging."

"I will try to make a good challenge for you, as long as you do the same."

"Let's find out!" Beast started running towards Max and he jumped above him, closing his legs and opening his arms wide at the height of the shoulders, making his body look like a giant cross which was falling on Max. "Wrestling Cross!" he attempted to fall on Max.

"Jumping Headbutt!" Max used his fruit power to perform a swift and powerful jump straight above him, striking Beast with the top of his head. The two enemies both felt some pain and screamed, with Max falling back to the floor and Beast being sent at the ceiling again with great force.

"This power is more annoying than I expected..." Beast made a comment while falling on the floor and landing on his feet.

"You will get used to it." Max jumped away while getting up in order to have a distance from his enemy when both of them stood on their feet.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside the cafeteria, Arthur was standing in front of the door with his sword unsheathed before he noticed a man moving towards his direction. He shared the same height as Arthur and he wore a large sombrero on his head, covering his hair. He had a small black colored moustache and he wore sunglasses on his eyes. He was quite thin to the point that his arms were fitting very easily into the short sleeves of his red colored t-shirt. He also wore green colored short pants with sandals. Around his waist, there were several daggers placed, they were probably the weapons he used.

Just when the man wsa about to get inside the bar, a blade was extended in front of his neck, blocking his path. The man was surprised and he turned his head at the right, looking at Arthur who had a smile on his face.

"Where do you think you are going, pal?" he asked with curiosity.

"Excuse me, but a friend of mine is inside." he said while grabbing one of the daggers he carried. "I have heard he is having a brawl against a pirate. I have no other choice but to assist him." he answered to Arthur's question.

"Great. So you are the man I was waiting for... Don Gaston of the Bounty Hunting Duo!"

"Huh? Do you know me?"

"As I said to your friend, I like reading newspapers... Normally, I wouldn't do this... But by the time my captain decided to face your friend, I have no other choice but to go on with his decision and assist him. You are my enemy, Don Gaston and I have no other choice but to cut you down." Arthur expressed his desire of cutting down the bounty hunter.

"That got me surprised." Gaston commented.

"You didn't expect it, did you?"

"Nope, not really... I never expected of meeting a person who smelt like shit and then find out that he reads newspapers... Seriously, if you don't find time to wash yourself, how do you find time to read newspapers anyway?" he made fun of Arthur for his bad stench.

"Whatever." Arthur swang his blade and attempted to slice the enemy, but he failed. Gaston moved behind, dodging the attack before dropping the dagger at Arthur with great speed, striking him at the shoulder.

"OUCH!" Arthur screamed in pain as soon as he felt the dagger piercing through his shoulder. "That hurt! I want Mr. Hug!" he asked for his teddy bear.

The two Jumping Pirates would be having a battle!

* * *

**[Next: The two battles reach their climax with Max and Arthur trying to overpower the two enemies!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Don Beast, Don Gaston]**

**[Devil Fruits: Jump Jump Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Jumping Uppercut, Jumping Headbutt, Wrestling Cross]**


	4. Arthur's goal

While relaxing in a cafeteria, Arthur found out that Max got a bounty on his head for defeating Norayah. However, Max kept shouting it out of excitemeny, resulting in him being approached by Don Beast of the Bounty Hunting Duo. While Max is dealing with Don Beast in a fist to fist battle, Arthur is about to face Don Gaston, the other member of the team. The battles erupt and only one winner will come out from each battle.

"Damn it... That dagger hurt me." Arthur thought while trying to hide from Don Gaston. While running, daggers were being thrown at him from a distance. Gaston was "sniping" him with his daggers, much to Arthur's annoyance.

"Where are you going? Are you afraid of me?" Gaston was running behind Arthur, while grabbing a few of the daggers he carried and throwing them at the pirate swordsman one after another. "Come on... They won't hurt, I promise!" he tried to joke with Arthur.

"Shitty bastard... He is making fun of me... Why did I let him strike me at the beginning in the first place. Now he's fond of it." the swordsman thought, while looking at the enemy who kept attacking him in a similar manner, although he couldn't target him as Arthur was running around pretty fast.

"Keep running. One day, I might run out of daggers to throw at you!" Gaston said while grabbing another dagger and throwing it at Arthur.

"How am I supposed to deal with him if I keep running away?" Arthur thought before turning towards Gaston, swinging his sword in order to deflect the enemy's thrown dagger. "I made up my mind." he said.

"Why? Won't you run a little bit more?" Gaston kept laughing at the enemy.

"No... Max is fighting in there and I'm not supporting him the way I should if I keep running like that. He has shouted a thousand times that he is going to become the Pirate King and in order to do so, he has to have a good swordsman in his crew, not a coward... It was my mistake from the beginning to run away and it will never happen again." Arthur commented while extending his hand to point with the tip of his sword at Gaston's head.

"Hm? What are you up to?" Gaston asked.

"Sword Cut!" he run at Gaston and attempted to slash him at the chest.

"Dagger Drill!" Gaston grabbed one of his daggers and attempted to block Arthur's katana with a drilling attack with his dagger. The two blades collided and the two attacks were nullified. However, while that was happening, with his other hand Gaston grabbed another dagger and he quickly threw it at the swordsman, hoping to damage him a little bit more. "Dagger Drop!" he threw the dagger at Arthur.

However, Arthur was not that naive. That was something he expected. Before the dagger was actually thrown, he moved his sword and held it vertically in a blocking stance, blocking the thrown dagger at the last second. "Smart movement." he remarked.

"I have a few others under my sleeves, you know."

"I will have to find out, I guess." Arthur jumped towards Gaston, trying to cut him from above by swinging his sword downwards with both hands. "Sword Division!" he yelled out the name of his technique.

"You let yourself open!" Gaston dropped another dagger at Arthur, who proceeded to change his attack and simply deflect it away with his sword, before landing in front of Gaston.

"No... I expected that to happen. It was just a way to get nearby." Arthur explained before he extended his sword and ultimately slashed Gaston at the chest, causing him some damage. "Ha!" he let out a scream with a smile on his face. Everything was indicating that he was about to win the battle against the bounty hunter.

"The battle has not finished yet."

"I doubt that." Arthur commented before he vanished before a small breeze followed, leaving Gaston with his eyes twitched. He slowly turned his head only to notice that Arthur had already reached a fair distance from him, with his back turned at him.

"I felt something weird... I felt a cut... But where are my wounds?" he was shocked, as the moment Arthur vanished, he felt a sword digging inside his body, scratching his chest deeply for a second.

"Let me tell you a short story. In the place I came from, we used to have many good swordsmen. My teacher wished to master the battling styles of the Pirate King's allies. On the other hand, I just wanted to surpass him. But he was unlucky. He died in an accident before he could master all those battling styles... And I... I couldn't find another way but to surpass him by mastering the battling styles he never mastered." Arthur told the bounty hunter a short story, as he fell on his knees.

"But... What does that have to do with our battle?" he gulped.

"Have you ever heard of Humming Brook? He was the musician of the Pirate King and one of the swordsmen in his crew. Many rumors are being said about him. Some say that he was a zombie, an undead. Others say those are lies. But one thing is for certain. He was the one to create and master this technique. You should feel lucky. You got beaten by Humming Brook's technique." Arthur sheathed his sword. "Secret Technique: Skeleton Sword." he sheathed his sword back at its sheath before a cut appeared at Gaston's chest and his blood sprayed the area, shocking the few people who witnessed the incident.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the cafeteria...

"You are persistent, boy! Beast March!" Beast punched the ground, causing a small area to tremble as if a herd of wild animals marched the place. Max lost his balance and he slipped, falling on the floor with his back.

"That's bad!" the captain thought.

"Wrestling Stomp!" Beast jumped above Max and attempted to stomp him with his feet when his jump finished. Before he could land the hit, though, Max rolled at the left, avoiding the attack a few seconds before it made contact. Now, that was close. The young pirate captain did not really want to think what could have happened in case Beast's large foot stepped on him. While he could not know completely, one thing was for certain... He would have a disadvantage, judging from Beast's powerful body and from the few samples of strength Max felt during his battle.

"That was closer than I want to think it was..." he whispered before he extended his hand in order to grab Beast's foot and use his fruit ability to send him at the ceiling, just like he did with his previous attacks. Max had a plan in his mind. If he kept sending the enemy at the ceiling with the powers of the Jump Jump Fruit, he could slowly start causing him damage and he could gather all his strength in one attack later to finish the battle for good.

"This won't work against me, boy!" Beast stepped back and avoided the grabble before picking up a table, much like Max did before. He lifted it above his head and with excitement on his face, the excitement the battle brought him, he threw it with force at the pirate in order to smash him with it.

Max was breathing a little bit heavily. He was tired because of the constant dodging of Beast's attack and the way he was lying on the floor was not helping him very much. While he could use his jumping ability in order to leave from the spot, the table was almost above him and if he jumped the damage could be more instead of less as he would collide with it with more force than originally. As a result, he did not have a choice but to take the attack and have his body damaged.

In order to not show that he was getting tired, Max tried to keep his mouth closed in order to not scream in pain. The attack was a quite brute one for a man like him. He had a fair amount of strength, but he was not as strong as Beast was. Beast was on a whole different level, and even if Max did not want to admit it, he knew it all along. The only thing screaming had to offer him by extension was nothing but a disadvantage as it would offer his enemy a psychological advantage, seeing Max struggling against him. With no other choice, Max got up, trying to endure the pain his body suffered and he messed with his hair, speaking out a few words to the enemy. "I am unlucky... This battle would be completely different if we were at another place. You are having an advantage here." he commented, trying to buy himself some time to regain some strength.

And he was right. Unluckily, he was not near the sea... If he was, he could simply hold Beast and drop him at the sea. He was inside a building instead. There, not only he could not throw his enemy at the sea and end the fight for good, but also he could not jump as high as he could and so he could not use the full capabilities of his fruit.

"What do you mean? Do you want us to get outside, boy? I have no problem! It's been a while since I had so much fun." the bounty hunter looked no scared of Max. While Max was trying to simply chat with the enemy before he regained some strength, Beast was taking advantage of it to show Max that he was not afraid of him. He took the chance to show his confidence over beating the pirate. "No matter where we go, it will be the same for you, you have my word." he mentioned while stretching his body.

"No, no... I don't want your help. You are my enemy. I will beat you fair and square. I don't want my bounty to rise because of my enemy's stupidity. I want myself to become famous because of my own achievements! I want to get what I deserve getting!" Max declined Beast's offer to help him, somewhat touching Beast with his speech.

"You know, boy, you are not a normal pirate. Most pirates would accept my help. Which makes me wonder whether you are a pirate or not... Most pirates don't have pride."

"It's not a matter of pride... I could accept the help of a subordinate maybe, but from an enemy? No... That's disrespectful for myself." Max said. "I am not that kind of person."

"It's been a while ever since I met a pirate like you. Tell any friends you make inside the prison that Don Beast congratulated you before capturing you." Beast congratulated the pirate.

"Nah... I'd prefer it if you spread my name after I defeat you. Doesn't that sound better?"

"They both sound good, boy... Now let's see whose name is about to spread!" Don Beast started running at Max, clenching his fist in order to throw a punch at the captain of the Jumping Pirates. He moved his fist forward and he threw a punch at Max, which Max proceeded to block by raising his arm in front of his head, blocking it and making Beast's hand bounce thanks to his jumping ability, leaving an opening at Beast's chest for the captain to strike.

"Now's my chance..." Max smiled and he performed an uppercut, striking Beast at the chest and sending him at the ceiling. "Jumping Uppercut!" he said before he struck the bounty hunter and he send him crushing above. However, the attack would not end there. Right after the punch was thrown, Max performed another jump, reaching the crushed enemy at the ceiling. "Now, now... Jumping Combobreaker!" he started throwing punches one after another at the bounty hunter's chest, causing him to be repeled upwards. However, as there was nothing above but the ceiling, while Max was striking Beast at the chest, Beast was also getting damaged at the back as it was hitting on the ceiling.

"Boy... You..." Beast realized he was trapped. Being cornered, he had no other option but to take the attacks and try to endure as much damage as possible.

"It's over!" Max performed an all out punch before falling down which was strong enough to cause the ceiling of the cafeteria break upon the impact of Beast with it. The bounty hunter could be seen moving upwards from the ceiling, with only the eye part of his eyes visible, while his body was bruised with a few droplets of blood, blood he coughed after the many punches he received at the chest.

"He really did it, didn't he?" Arthur smiled while looking at Don Beast.

"Hm? Gaston woke up and looked at his defeated comrade at the sky, although he could not move to help him because of the blood he lost during his battle with Arthur. "Beast... I am sorry..." he thought, avoiding speaking to not waste any more energy.

"What?! The huge guy got defeated instead?!" all the people who looked at the beginning of the battle inside the cafeteria were surprised to see that Max was the winner instead of Don Beast.

After traveling upwards for a couple of seconds, making himself visible to anybody who was outside their home, Don Beast's defeated body fell inside the cafeteria again from a high spot on the sky, breaking through the ceiling once again and leaving another hole.

"I hope you keep your promise." Max said after walking towards him and he started slowly walking outside the cafeteria in order to get to Arthur so they could leave.

"I will." Beast's voice was heard while Max opened the door, making him stop opening the door with his eyes twitched. He turned his head and he looked at the gigantic man lying on the floor, at the same spot he fell after he took Max's last attack.

"You already woke up?!" Max was surprised.

"Yeah... But I can't move that's for certain." Beast seemed disappointed.

"I see..." Max kept walking outside.

"Good luck, Million Max." Beast wished the best to the pirate. "This is a battle I will never forget." he finished speaking.

"We may meet again and discuss the battle, someday. Later." Max closed the door, leaving the defeated bounty hunter at the cafeteria all alone.

* * *

Upon getting outside, Max looked at Arthur who was running towards him. While Arthur looked a little bit damaged, Max immediately scolded him for leaving.

"Hey! Where did you go while I was battling?" he asked with curiosity. "You should be inside, cheering for me!" he complained.

"I was taking care of Don Beast's friend, you know!" Arthur gave Max an answer. "If you read the newspapers, you would know about Don Beast and Don Gaston!" Arthur scolded Max for his ignorance.

"Whatever... Let's go to the ship..." Max started walking away. "And take a bath already!" he commented as the two moved towards the port in order to depart.

The two pirates defeated the Bounty Hunting Duo!

* * *

**[Next: The Jumping Pirates get to another island. After they dock, they are approached by Norayah who seeks revenge on Max after he was ditched by his crew for his loss! Norayah's return!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Don Beast, Don Gaston]**

**[Devil Fruit: Jump Jump Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Sword Cut, Dagger Drill, Sword Division, Skeleton Sword, Beast March, Wrestling Stomp, Jumping Uppercut, Jumping Combobreaker]**

**[Announcement: As I haven't updated the story the last three days, tomorrow I will post two chapters instead of one. Thanks for reading!]  
**


	5. The mysterious luggage of the old enemy

The battles against the Bounty Hunting Duo were difficult but the two members of the Jumping Pirates eventually managed to overcome the powerful bounty hunters and defeated them. While Arthur did not really struggle in the end against his enemy, Max overcame the great strength gap between himself and Don Beast and he finally emerged victorious despite the difficulties. And now, two days later since then, the crew is arriving to another island of West Blue... A little island with nothing but a small town on it, known as the White Island.

"So, there we are... White Island." Arthur said as the ship almost arrived at the destination. The place was actually one big white colored rock on which there was the town. The town had quite a few houses, all of them having a white color and a port but that was it. There was nothing more than that.

"What a small place..." Max commented while looking at the island. "And it's... completely white. It reminds me of my eyes."

"It is. To be honest, this place actually exists to give supplies to any ship that come over here... It has nothing else to offer other than shops." Arthur explained. "Also, it is the favorite island of Mr. Hug." he told Max some information regarding his dear teddy bear.

"I could live without that knowledge, Arthur..." Max took a deep breath and messed with his hair, as usual. "I have learned everything about Mr. Hug, I think with that. Ever since we left from Maroon Island up to this point, you have told me the hours he sleeps, what he likes to eat, what he likes drinking, what times he poops, everything! Enough already." Max complained about Arthur's obsession with Mr. Hug.

"But Mr. Hug is my friend. Don't you want to learn more about my friends? How will you trust me if you don't know who my friends are." Arthur was surprised with Max. He thought that his captain wanted to listen to his stories about his teddy bear so that he could become friends with it.

"How should I deal with this..." Max thought and he did not speak to Arthur. "Why is he that obsessed with the toy?" Max wondered. "I guess there is nothing I can do. All I can do is to stand his stories about Mr. Hug, after all..." he kept thinking, before letting out a few words. "Sorry, I must apologize... I hope my behaviour didn't offend Mr. Hug." Max apologized.

"He is sleeping right now so it doesn't matter." Arthur said. "There would be a problem if he was awake."

"Whatever..."

"Shall I take him with us while we are buying the supplies?" Arthur asked politely. "I want my friend to take a stroll. It's been a while since he got off the ship." he said.

"Erm... It's fine with me." Max decided to stick with his plan and just ignore everything about Mr. Hug.

"Thank you, captain." Arthur was thankful.

A few minutes later, the crew had finally docked at the island. The two pirates got off the ship and they were about to walk into the town, just before something unexpected happened. A cloaked figure approached them, hooded. The figure looked familiar but Max was confused about the person's identity as the face was not clearly visible. The figure also carried a luggage with them.

"Hello over there. It's been a while." a male voice was heard and the figure took off the hood and dropped the cloak, revealing himself to be none other than Norayah Tact, the pirate captain who attacked the Jumping Pirates some time after they set sail for the Grand Line.

"You... I remember you. You are Norayah Tact, aren't you?" Arthur said while looking at the pirate. "Yes, that's definitely you. I have a good memory." the swordsman said.

"Of course that's me! I was waiting for the two of you." he spoke.

"Waiting for us? Why?" Max messed with his hair once again. "Do you want to be thrown back at the sea, again?" Max said and both he and Arthur started laughing, making Norayah's face red out of embarassment.

"That's not funny!" Norayah yelled at Max.

"Sorry." Max apologized.

"I saw you got a bounty on your head Million Max "The Jumper"... You have now surpassed my bounty." Norayah commented with a disgusted look on his face.

"Oh yes... I want to thank you for that. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be known to the area around right now." Max thanked his former enemy.

"WHAT?! ARE YOU BEING SARCASTIC?! IT'S NOT FUNNY!" the short-tempered captain yelled at Max.

"I didn't mean to be sarcastic... I really mean it." Max made his position clear.

"I don't want to listen to your thanksgiving... I want revenge on you, "Jumper"! You have ruined my life!" Norayah started crying like a crybaby. He could not hold his anger and tears surrounded his eyes before they started falling down from his eyes like a waterfall.

"Revenge for your defeat? That's ridiculous. Unless you have something good under your sleeve, you are going to lose again, that's for sure. That's what logic says." Arthur entered the conversation, as well.

"Look who is talking for logic... The guy with the teddy bear..." Max whispered.

"Hm?" Arthur turned towards his captain.

"Nothing, keep talking." Max pretended to not have spoken.

"It's not a matter of revenge... Ever since I got ridiculed by your captain, I was mocked by my crew... The last days we stayed here and even my most loyal subordinates started making fun of me. The once known "Pirate Groom" Norayah Tact is now nothing but a joke of his subordinates, thanks to you! My subordinates lost faith in me and that's because of you!" Norayah yelled at Max and he started running at him along with his luggage.

"I see... I ruined your pride... All I can do is apologize, I guess." Max said, while looking at Norayah, who was running at him.

"An apology means nothing to me unless I beat you and clear my name! Luggage Smash!" he moved the luggage he carried at Max, smashing it on Max's face.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Max was hurt.

"Captain!" Arthur was about to unsheathe his sword with the hand which didn't carry Mr. Hug.

"It's okay, Arthur... I will deal with this." Max turned his face to Norayah once again. Then, he started speaking with a serious voice to his enemy "Fine... If you want an enemy, then you have him.".

"I won't lose that easily now, Jumper!" Norayah said, while looking at Max who was using his jumping ability in order to jump. He followed Max's movements on the air, only to notice that he was trying to do the same thing as the last time. He wanted to move behind him in order to grab him and throw him at the sea. The sea was nearby so it wasn't impossible.

"Jump!" Max said while he was on the air, indeed trying the same thing as the last time.

"Luggage Swing!" Norayah turned behind and swang his luggage, striking Max at his left side just when he landed on his feet, sending him a few meters away on the ground with great force.

"You are indeed more capable than you showed last time, aren't you?" Arthur was surprised with Norayah.

"The last time I wasn't carrying my luggage... That's all." Norayah explained to the swordsman. Indeed, the last time Norayah met with the Jumping Pirates, he was caught off guard before he could grab his luggage and perform his attacks.

"Now that I think about it... I remember seeing some luggage at the side of your ship, but I didn't really think it was that important." Arthur remembered to have seen the luggage at the ship of Norayah when they encountered him, realizing that Norayah simply didn't have the chance to reach his weapon of choice during the previous battle.

"Just what are you carrying inside that thing? It's quite heavy. My face still hurts." Max spoke to his enemy while getting up, touching the part of his face which was struck by the smashing attacking with his one hand and his damaged side with his other hand.

"You will have to make me serious if you want to see what I carry inside my luggage." Norayah run towards Max again in order to perform the same technique he performed at the start. Taking the same stance, he prepared to smash his luggage on the enemy in an attempt to cause him some more damage.

"You are more confident than I expected after the loss you received at my hands, aren't you?" Max tried to anger Norayah.

"You bastard! Luggage Smash!" Max indeed angered his enemy, who kept going with his attack putting more strength in it.

"That's it! Come on!" Max waited for him, standing still.

"Take that!" Norayah struck Max but by the time his luggage actually struck the captain of the Jumping Pirates, it bounced high on the air thanks to Max's ability to cause things to jump. Norayah lost the grip of his weapon, which was now moving upwards on the air.

"Now, now... Jump!" Max jumped high on the air and grabbed the luggage, before landing on a distance from Norayah.

"Huh?! You outsmarted me, didn't you?!" Norayah got even more angry at Max.

"Relax... I just want to see what you keep inside that bag." Max said while looking at the bag, ignoring the fact that he was having a battle. He moved his hand at the zipper, slowly moving it in order to open the bag.

"Watch out, Max!" Arthur's voice was heard and Max raised his head, looking at Norayah who had already pointed a gun at him, shooting him.

"Jump!" Max dropped the luggage on the floor, while he jumped high, dodging the bullet. While he wanted to keep the luggage, he wanted to get rid of the weight so that he could jump faster, even if the difference was not that great. He could not risk getting shot just because of his curiosity what the enemy carried inside his bag, after all.

"A jump won't help you! Wild Shots!" Norayah started shooting with his gun at Max, who dodged the first bullet by starting falling down. Then, he dodged the second the same way and so on until he finally landed on the ground again, standing on his feet.

"Won't this gun ever empty?" he wondered while running on the ground in a circular way around Norayah, dodging his shots.

"Chill out Max, I got his bag!" Arthur grabbed the enemy's equipment and started running away.

"Great!" Max smiled.

"You are not getting away!" Norayah threw his gun at the running swordsman, striking him with the weapon at the back of his head and causing him to fall down. The bag fell from his had and slightly slid, while Arthur held Mr. Hug tight. Apparently, even if Arthur was normally fast, he was carrying a lot of things with him. He had his sword, Mr. Hug and the slightly heavy bag the captain of the Tact Pirates carried along with him, so it was natural for him to not run with his otherwise great speed. As a result, he could not easily dodge the attack, especially with his back turned to the enemy.

"Damn!" Max attempted to perform a quick jump to reach the luggage, while Norayah started running towards it to pick it up.

"I won't let you have my equipment!" Norayah yelled out while running, stepping upon Arthur in order to reach his equipment faster. The pirate finally arrived a second before Max arrived near the luggage and he instantly grabbed it, swinging it just like he did right after the battle started in an attempt to strike him at the sides.

"I wasn't prepared at first." Max said. "I didn't focus on bouncing that annoying luggage away!" he said while standing still, waiting for the bag to strike him.

"So was I." Norayah performed a weaker version of his attack, so that his luggage wouldn't "jump" away with great force. As a result, not only he managed to hit Max and cause him some damage, but he also held his bag tight so that it wouldn't fall of his hands.

"That was clever!" Max praised Norayah for his skills.

"I want you to say it to my subordinates. Those are the ones who think of abandoning me!" he commented while finally opening the zipper.

"Huh?" Max was surprised as he could see through Norayah's evil look that he was up to something. The content he tried to protect so hard was about to be exposed, after all.

"If you had trouble against my "Heavy Luggage" battling style, I am pretty sure you are going to have a lot more when you see this." Norayah smiled, as if victory was already his.

"What do you mean?" Max questioned his enemy before looking at the man taking out an item he grabbed from inside his bag. As the bag slowly fell on the ground, Max's eyes started twitching out of fear as he realized that he was about to bring out nothing more than a weapon.

"As I said... If you had trouble against my luggage, then you are in grave danger if you are up against my..." before Norayah could complete his sentence, he felt a slash at his back, which made him kneel on the ground before he could reveal the content of his bag. His luggage fell on the ground, before he could reveal its content.

"Sword Cut!" Arthur said and he instantly sheathed his sword back. "You could thank me later." he said.

"That was helpful." Max agreed and he started walking towards Norayah, sitting on the ground and grabbing the luggage in order to unzip it. "Now... Let's see what he was about to use." he said with a smile on his face.

"NO! STOP!" Norayah demanded from Max to stop, despite his slight injury. He attempted to move his arms to grab the luggage from his enemy's hands but Arthur was stopping him, grabbing his arms from behind so that he couldn't move them.

"Oh come on, Max! Open it!" Arthur was also excited to see what was being carried inside the luggage.

However, once again, just when Max was about to unzip the bag and reveal its content, a person appeared, looking at the three men. He was dressed with a pink colored short sleeved robe. The way of dressing was reminding of Norayah, with the exception that the person didn't wear a blouse that covered his neck. He had grey colored hair and glasses on his eyes.

"Captain!" the man spoke to Norayah.

"What is it, Leshrah?! Don't you see I am busy?!" Norayah yelled at his subordinate.

"We have trouble in the bar! It's being attacked by other pirates! The others are..." the man stopped his phrase as an explosion was heard from inside the town. People could be heard screaming while smoke appeared from the place the sound of explosion came from.

"Guys!" Norayah broke free from Arthur's grabbling and he got up, before taking the bag back from Max's hands before he could see what was being kept inside, due to the sudden turn of events on the island. "Let's go, Leshrah!" the two men started running at the place the explosion came from, leaving the two members of the Jumping Pirates alone.

"That explosion looked dangerous and other pirates seem to be on the island. We would better go and get some supplies on our next destination." Arthur suggested to his captain.

"You are right but... you know..." Max got up and started jumping away, following Norayah. "I want to see what he carries in that bag!" Max followed his enemy, despite the danger in the middle of the island.

"Oh crap." Arthur facepalmed before looking at Mr. Hug. "Don't you agree, Mr. Hug?" he asked before he got up and started running behind Max.

* * *

**[Next: Max and Arthur help Norayah against the two dangerous pirates who seem to want something from the captain of the Tact Pirates!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Norayah Tact, Leshrah]**

**[Devil Fruits: Jump Jump Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Luggage Smash, Luggage Swing, Wild Shots, Sword Cut]**


	6. Unexpected help

After defeating the Bounty Hunting Duo after a difficult struggle, the Jumping Pirates traveled to their next destination, a small islad called White Island because of being a white colored rock with white houses. There, Max and Arthur came across Norayah, who was seeking revenge over the pirates for humiliating him in front of his crew. The battle between Norayah and the two members of the Jumping Pirates lasted for a while. During the conflict, though, Max's curiosity was piqued by the heavy luggage Norayah carried and used to fight him, without revealing its content. Max wanted to find out what Norayah hid inside it. Before he could do so, though, a subordinate of the enemy captain appeared, claiming that the crew was in trouble before an explosion took place. Worried about his crew and without carrying about his desire for revenge over Max and Arthur, Norayah grabbed his luggage and he left along with his subordinate to see what happened to his friends. However, he was not the only one to inspect the situation as Max followed him in order to take his luggage and finally find out what he carried inside that made him that heavy.

"Where is he?" Max landed on his feet after a high jump, with Arthur running right behind him. "They must have taken a shortcut we didn't notice!" he commented.

"Let's hurry and get back to the ship." Arthur insisted on returning. "That guy is not as weak as we thought. I am positive he will return for us someday and then we will get to find what he has inside his bag." he tried to change his captain's mind.

"If we leave now, I am going to regret it for good." Max said before performing another high jump, landing on the roof of a house. Then, he performed another high jump to reach a great height, looking below more clearly. From that point of the sky he could see the fire that occurred after the explosion. Most probably, Norayah was there. The captain of the jumping pirates landed on his feet once again and he turned his head towards Arthur. "I found them." he said before running towards the right direction.

"Whatever..." Arthur followed his captain. The relationship between the two was developing to be a peculiar one. While Max found Arthur crazy for having a teddy bear as his best friend and for never taking a bath, Arthur on the other hand found him a little bit too naive for being a pirate captain. Max always wanted to get himself into trouble, something he did when he met Don Beast and even now. Max was too reckless for a captain. "He might be reckless, but he is a good guy... And he is strong enough to overcome problems. Once he says something, I will better do as he says. Otherwise, we won't survive long enough to get to the Grand Line." he thought as all that happened. Arthur had once sworn to not turn his back on his enemies for Max and now he made a promise to himself to follow Max's orders for the sake of the crew.

At the same time outside the bar the Tact Pirates used to drink... Norayah was standing outside the burning building, unable to get inside. The fire was so great that it was impossible for anybody to get inside. The bodies of his defeated subordinates were lying on the ground outside the burning building, with a few holes on them. They most likely got shot by the enemy crew on their attempt to get outside the bar and escape, before the explosion took place.

"Everybody!" Norayah kneeled at the sight of his damaged subordinates and the burning building. "I... I really failed, didn't I?" he gulped.

"Captain! Don't cry! You are making me cry, as well." Leshrah cried along with his captain.

"Oh my... What a sad sight for a captain." a woman appeared behind the two men. The woman had red colored hair, tied into a ponytail. She wore a black colored buttoned suit with a white colored shirt and a black tie. She also wore black colored gloves.

"Huh? Who are you?" Norayah turned his head and looked at the woman, with his eyes twitched.

"My name is Snakes. I am a pirate adviser in my crew." the woman bowed in front of the two men, with a wicked smile on her face. "I am afraid that your men were disrespectful enough to be executed, Mr. Tact." she said while finishing her introduction.

"Oh, Snakes why are you always so polite?" a man also walked at the place. He was a tall individual, around two meters tall, wearing the same suit the woman wore. He wore sunglasses on his eyes and he had dark brown colored hair. He slowly walked towards the shocked captain and he pointed at Leshrah with the index finger of his right hand with an evil and cold look on his eyes, before he shot out a bullet, striking the pirate at the chest.

"..." Leshrah gulped with his eyes completely twitched while looking at the hole on his chest. Blood came from it as he fell on the ground, unconscious. The bullet had struck him at a vital spot, after all.

"Do you realize now what happened?" the man talked to Norayah. "Your friends did not want to do as we pleased and they were caught in the explosion, just like that. I am Tetris, a bulletman who has eaten the Ammo Ammo Fruit. And unlike my good friend Tetris, I am not polite enough to show you some respect before I kill you."

"Tetris... Huh?" Norayah was still conscious. "I have heard about you... Aren't you... Aren't you a sniper and assassin from North Blue? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Silence." Tetris shot Norayah at the shoulder. "You do not have the right to make any questions to me... I am the one who makes the questions here, Pirate Groom." he spoke.

"All we want is some information about a certain thing..." Snakes moved towards Norayah and she kissed him on the cheek, trying to convince him to cooperate with them.

"Information about what? We are just a weak crew! We know nothing about anything you guys are up to!" Norayah yelled in agony, making Snakes change the look of her eyes.

"Oh my... And I treated you so well." she touched his head and her hand vibrated on contact while letting out a weird tone, damaging him and making him lie on the floor, badly beaten. While Norayah was a strong man, he had already taken a slash at the back and a bullet at his shoulder, so the attack was more than enough to make him fall on the ground completely.

"Stop it! I... I will speak! Just promise me you won't hurt the others anymore!" Norayah broke his silence and he spoke with tears all over his eyes.

"Good. Now speak please." Tetris waited for the man to speak his words, anxiously.

"What you are looking for... I have it inside my luggage." Norayah slowly pointed at the luggage he carrying the whole time.

"Hm..." Snakes walked and picked up the luggage, before moving towards Tetris. She dropped it on the ground and she moved her hands on it to unzip it.

"Stop it right there!" Max fell from the sky right behind the two pirate partners and he clenched both fists, striking them with two Jumping Uppercut attacks from behind, sending them high on the air. Then, he picked up the luggage and he quickly threw it at Arthur who was waiting behind, prepared to run.

"I was waiting for you... Hehe..." Norayah said while smiling.

"How did you know I was coming?" Max asked.

"I just hoped you would. If you didn't, I would be dead." he said before he yelled at Max. "Don't get cocky for landing two punches! She is coming from behind!" he warned Max, who turned and moved his arm forward, dodging the incoming kicking attack of the woman. Once again, a mysterious sound was heard upon impact and the woman's body part vibrated, causing more damage with the attack.

"She is a fruit user, as well..." Max thought. "She is the first fruit user I get to face. The question is... What is her power?"

"Shit..." Norayah got up from his position. "That bastard is gone! He is searching for my bag." he said before he started running away, despite his injuries. "I mustn't let him have it!" he tried to follow the already missing Tetris, who was following Arthur.

"I will not let you leave!" Snakes moved fast towards Norayah and attempted to perform a kick in order to send him away.

"As if I'll let you!" Max jumped quickly in front of her and he attempted to punch Snakes in the face.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!" the woman was hit.

"Go! I will hold her off! I don't know what those people want... But if they attacked you and your friends for that, that luggage must be having something precious inside! I won't let them have it their way!"

"Why? Why are you helping me?" Norayah was surprised with Max's desire to help him.

"Well... If there is somebody who will open that bag instead of you that will be me... And plus, I got a liking for you. You seem to care about your subordinates, after all."

"..." Norayah had no words to speak.

"Just go already! We don't have time to lose!" Max yelled while rushing at Snakes, attempting to punch her in the face.

* * *

Meanwhile, at another street at the town... Arthur was running, but his speed was slow. Carrying the luggage, Mr. Hug and his sword, the man could not move as fast as he could. It was a pain in the ass. But, there was nothing else he could do. By the time his captain decided to help Norayah against the two mysterious pirates, he had no other choice but to assist.

"There you are..." Tetris spoke to Arthur from a distance, while pointing at him with his index finger, in a similar way he did with Norayah and Leshrah. "Finger Gun!" he shot a bullet at Arthur. However, luckily enough for Arthur, the distance was big enough for Tetris to be unable to target him with precision.

"Damn... I have to hide that luggage and attack him. I can't risk having it stolen while battling him." Arthur turned around to look at his enemy, while thinking about what he should do.

"I missed. I guess I was too confident." Tetris commented about his shooting skills and he pointed with all the fingers of his hand. "Finger Machinegun!" he started shooting bullets one after another.

"CRAP!" Arthur immediately dropped the luggage on the floor and he started running away in order to avoid the shots.

"You can keep dodging! I can shoot you as much as I want. I doubt I will run out of energy soon. However, you will eventually." Tetris laughed at his enemy, who was desperately trying to cover himself before he could prepare an attack to deal with the sniper assassin.

"ARGH!" Arthur was shot and he fell on the ground, while Mr. Hug also fell from his hand a few meters nearby.

"It looks like you took a few bullets, didn't you?" Tetris started walking slowly towards the shot swordsman. While making his way, he kicked Mr. Hug at the site and he moved above Arthur, taking an evil grin on his face. "Any last words?"

"I want to find out what he carries in that stupid bag..." Arthur said, while looking at the man who was pointing at him with his index finger once again, prepared to shoot him with his Finger Gun at the forehead and finish him for good.

"Hm? That is funny... Why would a man protect something he knows nothing about?" Tetris asked with a cold voice.

"I don't know. I am curious, I guess."

"Haven't you heard the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat"? Now that is a bad way for one to die." Tetris said.

"The same goes for you, I guess." Arthur said with a smile on his face, the smile of a man who was about to be saved.

"Hm?" Tetris wondered what Arthur meant before he felt a gun touching his head. Tetris' eyes twitched below his sunglasses, although that wasn't very obvious. Somebody was standing right behind him, pointing at him with a weapon.

"It took me a while to get here considering the damage I suffered from that stupid bullet..." Norayah's voice was heard. The man was standing right behind Tetris, with the luggage on his left hand and a gun on his right hand, which he used to point at the sniper's head.

"You were so curious to find out why I helped Norayah that you didn't realize he was already here." Arthur explained.

"Now... Let my friend go and I will change my mind about emptying my gun on your head." Norayah commented while smiling. Norayah finally found Tetris and stopped him from killing Arthur!

"Fine, fine..." Tetris moved his hands upwards, surrendering.

"Great." Arthur got up.

"See? It was easy to cooperate with us..." Norayah pulled the weapon back from the man's head.

"You are too naiv-" Tetris quickly moved his fingers and pointed at Arthur in an attempt to shoot him after Norayah moved the gun away from his head, but before he could do so the sound of shooting was heard. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Nines shots were heard and Tetris kneeled on the ground, with his sunglasses falling of his eyes while he kneeled, revealing their dark brown color that matched his hair color. Then, blood started comming out from his back at the area around his spine, literally bathing his black colored pants with it.

"You are the naive one..." Norayah commented. "To think that I would let you go after what you did to my subordinates..." the captain of the Tact Pirates looked disappointed.

"Nine shots? Seriously?" Arthur was shocked to see how many shots the assassin received.

"Yes. Nine for each one of my friends." Norayah started walking back towards the burning building where Max battled Snakes. While walking, he looked at his injured shoulder and he instantly pointed at Tetris once again, shooting him once more at the back of his neck, causing him to instantly faint. "Oh... I forgot to shoot him for me." he explained the reason for attacking him again, before he kept walking back at the bar.

* * *

**[Next: Max takes on Snakes in a hard battle between the Devil Fruit users!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Norayah Tact, Leshrah, Snakes, Tetris]**

**[Devil Fruits: Jump Jump Fruit, Ammo Ammo Fruit, Mysterious Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Jumping Uppercut, Finger Gun, Finger Machinegun]**


	7. An answer to the question! The open bag!

In order to find out what Norayah hid inside his bag, Max followed him at the bar of White Island's town where Norayah and his crew were defeated by two pirates named, Snakes and Tetris, who were searching for a certain thing. Eventually, Norayah admitted he was hiding it inside his bag and when Snakes was about to unzip it, Max came to Norayah's assistance, claiming that he would be the only one who will open that bag other than the captain of the Tact Pirates. The bag was retrieved by Arthur who tried to make an escape, while being followed by Tetris. Tetris quickly found the swordsman of the Jumping Pirates but when he was about to kill him, Norayah rescued him by shooting down Tetris and avenging himself and his defeated friends. And now, Max is battling against the pirate advisor Snakes in a fist to fist battle.

"Jump!" Max jumped high in order to avoid a knee attack of his female enemy.

"High Knee!" Snakes jumped and kept going with the knee attack, moving upwards with a swift jump.

"Jumping Hoof!" Max attempted to stomp his female enemy as he fell on the ground. His foot struck the knee attack of the woman, causing her to fall back to the ground. However, while Snakes was falling on the ground, Max's contact with the enemy allowed him to perform another jump on the spot, allowing himself to reach an even higher point of the sky.

The pirate captain reached a big distance from the ground. He looked at the woman below with a smile on his face as he started following. "Falling Wheel!" as he fell he moved his body circulary looking like a spinning wheel, gaining momentum as he fell.

"I have to move away!" Snakes was worried. As the man was falling from a high height, his physical strength combined with the momentum he was gaining would be more than enough to cause her some terrible damage.

"HA!" the captain's attack missed and he struck the ground with his knee instead, causing a crack on it. "Huh? I missed?" he realized that Snakes dodged his attack.

"Sorry." the woman's voice was heard from behind touching him at the back. "Ring!" her hand vibrated violently, pushing Max forward several meters away. Once again, a weird sound was heard during the usage of the woman's attack.

"Just what kind of Devil Fruit did she eat?" Max barely stood on his feet while turning his head slightly towards her, looking at her with the edge of his white colored eyes.

"Have you ever been told that you have beautiful eyes?" Snakes asked him with a seductive voice, trying to flirt with him.

"Sorry but I don't prefer gingers." Max turned completely so that he could see her clearly.

"That is disappointing." Snakes took a deep breath and she started running at Max again, preparing her next attack. She clenched her fist and right before she reached Max, she punched the air in front of her instead, with her arm vibrating the whole time. Due to the strong vibration, the air was pushed towards him, striking him just like a shockwave. "Shockwave!" she yelled the name of her technique.

"ARGH!" Max crossed his arms in an attempt to defend himself from the air as he couldn't make it jump off his body.

"I see... You can't block the air completely with your stupid power, can you?" Snakes saw through Max's inability to make the air bounce away from his body. "Perfect." She started performing more and more Shockwave attacks, launching them one after another with great speed.

"Damn... I can't keep taking these attacks. I must try to jump away before I become unable to move away!" Max thought. "Jump!" he performed a jump and landed behind the woman, raising his leg in order to strike her with a kick at her right side, without using his fruit ability.

Unable to dodge the swift attack, Snakes was struck and she was sent away a few meters, but before she while falling on the ground, she touched it with both hands and performed a backflip, regaing her balance. "Shockwave!" she launched more of her shockwave attacks at Max, which the pirate attempted to dodge by performing continous jumps around the area, although in the end he couldn't. One of the woman's shockwaves struck him at the chest, resulting in him losing his balance and taking more and more of the attacks. He coughed some blood before he ended up lying on the ground, somewhere near with the defeated members of the Tact Pirates, in front of the burning building.

"That is too bad..." Snakes walked towards him and stood above him. "I had given you a chance... You could ditch that idiot with the teddy bear and come with me. I know about you, Million Max. It is only a few days since you started and you already made a name for yourself. You could be very handful with my plans... You could be my husband and my right hand man. But as you said, you do not like gingers..." she started speaking with a disappointed voice before she took a deep breath. From the looks of it, Snakes had a few plans but Max could not really know what she was talking about.

"Heh, things sometimes won't end up the way we want them to end." he said.

"Indeed. You chose to not follow anybody. That is why you are about to end now. Too bad... You were promising." she said while touching Max's chest, prepared to finish her off with the vibration attack she used to perform.

"Nope... This is not the end. It is the begining!" Max said while moving his feet, tackling the woman and making her fall on the ground, before he got up.

"Huh?" the woman was surprised, trying to figure out what Max was up to.

"Perfect." Max used his jumping ability to fall on her from above.

"What is he thinking?! No way..." the woman had an idea about what the pirate was about to do.

"Jumping..."

"No..." Snakes was worried.

"Trampoline!" Max fell with both feet on the woman, jumping high on the air and pushing her on the ground, burying her a little bit.

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!" the woman felt her chest being stomped by the pirate captain.

"Trampoline!" Max fell on her once again, with greater momentum than before, damaging her even more and jumping even higher. As he stomped her once more, her body was buried even more, making it unable for the woman to roll away, even if she tried to.

"NO! STOP IT!" Snakes screamed in agony, worried about getting struck one more time.

"Trampoline!" Max fell on her for a third time, with increased speed and strength, causing the woman to cough blood, while he kept on jumping high on the air.

"How could I lose like that?!" Snakes thought and gulped while looking at Max, who started spinning his body like a wheel.

"Falling Wheel." Max used the same technique he used before, falling on the woman with great speed and strength once more. As he fell, he struck the woman with his knee and her body was sent flying upwards for a couple of seconds, before she ended up falling right next to Max, ultimately unconscious. The continuous attacks she kept receiving from Max were coming one after another so it was natural for her to faint after taking that amount of damage. Max looked at her defeated body, then he stared at the building. The fire was just put out. "And all these for a bag... Just what did he keep in that bag, anyway?!" Max messed with his hair and turned behind in order to walk and search for Arthur and Norayah, only to see the two arriving.

"It looks like you did it." Arthur commented while looking at the defeated woman.

"We looked at you while you jumped a few seconds ago." Norayah said.

"She was tough... That's for sure."

"Both of them were... I almost died to that guy. If it wasn't for Norayah, I would be dead by now." he accepted that he was alive thanks to the captain of the Tact Pirates.

"Those two. They wanted this." Norayah unzipped his bag and he grabbed a piece of map, while dropping the rest of the luggage on the ground. Inside the luggage he carried there were also several pistols, revolvers, sniper parts and even a rifle.

"Hm? When we fought back then, were you about to show me the map?" Max scratched his head, making Arthur and Norayah look at him with an awkward look on their faces.

"Are you an idiot?" they asked him together.

Max looked at the rest of the items Norayah carried inside the bag. He stared for a few seconds and then he looked at the other two, speaking again. "Nevermind." he said.

"This map used to belong to the legendary pirate who almost managed to conquer the Grand Line many years before Gold Roger became the Pirate King... "Descendant of Gods" Heracles XIV!" he said.

"WHAT?!" Arthur was shocked. "WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT?!"

"Long ago, I used to be an apprentice in a pirate ship in the Grand Line... My captain used to have it. One day, a few pirates started attacking us, searching for the map. My captain gave it to me and trusted me with the map, saying that if it fell on the wrong hands then the whole world would be in danger. He quickly placed me in a boat and told me to go away... My boat was leaving from the one side, while on the other side our ship was being bombarded by the enemies who searched for the map. I cried for the whole time I was on the boat and even after I finally arrived to an island. I was a little boy, carrying a map that could bring me trouble... And I watched my friends dying for this map, just like now!" Norayah started speaking about his history, with tears all over his face.

"I see... So, why didn't your captain destroy the map instead and end this thing for good?" Arthur wanted to know what was going on.

"The map is leading to a treasure from what I have heard by my late captain. When I was a boy I remember him drinking and telling that he didn't need to find the Pirate King's treasure if he found Heracles XIV's treasure instead, while showing the map to anybody around. That's why he was attacked. His drinking habit led to his own death, I suppose..."

"Captain... You never told us that..." Leshrah got up along with the rest of his subordinates.

"Wait a minute... If you never revealed any information about the map to your subordinates, how did these two Pirates know about it?" Max messed with his hair while speaking.

"I was young and stupid... I fell in the same trap as my captain. I used to live in the Grand Line before I came here. One day, I also drank too much and I gave out the information to a man named Clover... We were both drunk that night and so he didn't think of attacking me. But the next day, he started chasing me everywhere and sent men after me. I run away here, forming a small crew so that they wouldn't find me. I changed my name as well but..." Norayah kept explaining.

"You did what?!" all the members of the Tact Pirates yelled at their captain.

"Sorry, everybody. My real name is Jon Act... Norayah was the last name of my captain and I stole it from him." the captain apologized. "As I said, I changed my name and made a name for myself with a small crew, so that the world would think I am a different person but... It was useless, I suppose. I was found and those two assassins were sent for the map and my head. Great." he finished his explanation with a disappointed look on his face.

"That's a sad story to hear..." everybody admitted.

"Hm... So in other words, you are saying that you are not safe wherever you go, right? Jon..." Max was thinking about something.

"That is correct." Jon admitted.

"If that is the thing, how about joining me?"

"What?" Arthur did not see that coming.

"What?" the members of the Tact Pirates pirates also did not see that coming.

"HUUUUUUUH?!" Jon's jaw dropped on the ground.

"Now that I think about it... As long as Max wants you, I want you, as well. And Mr. Hug won't be having a problem either, as long as you don't sleep on the same bed with him." Arthur commented.

"No way!" Jon declined the offer. "I have a crew to run. I cannot abandon my subordinates! They might be making fun of me, but... They are my friends." he said.

"Well, captain..." Leshrah spoke. "The way things turned out, to be honest, I think we shall be unable to help you." he tried to change his captain's mind. "If those people come again, not only we'll die and be unable to protect you, but those people will take the map as well. We were lucky to survive this time but I doubt we will be lucky enough the next time. I think it would be better to go with them instead of sticking with us." he said.

"He is right, captain!" another subordinate said. "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" all the members of the Tact Pirates started speaking, encouraging their captain to leave.

"But I don't want to! You are my family!" he started crying along with them.

"But it's for your own good!" Leshrah said.

"I know!" Jon admitted that he agreed and he started crying.

"Don't cry, captain!" all his subordinates kept crying.

"Sto-Stop crying!" he tried to stop them, but he cried even more.

"I am asking you again, then... Will you join me or not?" Max made the same question to Jon.

"YES! I WILL JOIN YOU!" Jon yelled while crying, hugging his subordinates in an emotional moment.

"Now, we can cry, Arthur." Max and Arthur let off their tears and joined the group hug and they all cried.

The only sounds which were heard from that point and onwards for quite a while were those of the crying men. The sound of people crying with manly tears, while they said an unexpected goodbye to one of their best friends.

* * *

About an hour later, the men were all at the dock. Jon had already placed his equipment at the ship of the Jumping Pirates and he was standing at the ship's deck, staring at his friends who were on the land.

"Leshrah. Protect all of them." he said. "And I promise... When we conquer the seas and become strong enough, I will come back here to take control of the crew again and protect you the way a captain should." he said with a proud voice.

"Captain... I will." he said. "Oh, and one last thing." he spoke a few more words, while jumping one the ship of the Tact Pirates, so that they could leave as well. "When we made fun of you for losing to Max... We didn't mean it. You were the best captain we could have." he apologized.

"You want... to make me cry again, don't you?" Jon started crying, once again.

"Oh for God's sake... I got that guy with the teddy bear and now that crybaby?" Max thought ignoring that he was crying about an hour ago along with the pirates.

"Goodbye, everyone." Arthur waved goodbye while moving to the helm.

"Good luck on your journey!" the Tact Pirates said before both ships departed and they followed separate ways.

The crew expanded with another member!

* * *

Meanwhile, at the town back at White Island... Tetris was lying on the ground, crawling. The shots he received at his spine made it difficult for him to walk and so he crawled the whole time.

"I don't believe it... I doubt I misheard what those pirates said. There is a bigger secret to the information the captain wants than we thought, huh?" he told Snakes, who was standing on her feet, next to him.

"Oh, you heard that, too?" she looked at him with the edge of her eyes.

"Yes... Those bastards thought I was down for good. It's such a shame I listened to them!" he said with a smile on his face.

"Yes... It is such a shame..." Snakes said while turning at him and looking at him from above. "For you." she said with a cold look on her eyes.

"Hm?" Tetris couldn't understand what his partner meant.

"I am sorry, pal..." she grabbed her partner's head, smashing it on the ground with brute force.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Tetris coughed some blood.

"To be honest, I was thinking about whether I should kill you or not... You see, your Devil Fruit could give me plenty of money if I sold it and I could blame the Jumping Pirates for that... Nobody would suspect me. At first, I wasn't sure. But now that you told me that you know everything, it looks like I have no other choice." she said while smiling.

"Wait, Snakes! NO!" Tetris screamed in agony.

"Ring." Snakes' hand started vibrating violently more and more.

"AAAAAAAH! AHHHHHHHHH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Tetris' head exploded because of the violent vibrations and the man ultimately died, dirtying Snakes' black colored gloves with his blood.

"Now, now... I think it is about time to report." she took off her right glove, revealing there was a speak on the hand and a button. The woman pushed the button with her other hand.

"Snakes... I was waiting for your report." a man's voice was heard.

"Sorry for being late, captain, but we run into problems." she explained.

"What do you mean?"

"We found that guy who called himself Norayah Tact... We almost got our hands on the thing you are looking for, but two friends of his attacked us unexpectedly... In the end, we got defeated by them and Tact escaped along with those two." she said.

"WHAT?!" the captain grew mad.

"And there is more... Tetris was killed, captain. I tried to stop them but..." Snakes faked her tears behind the speaker.

"It's alright, don't cry Snakes... Do you know who they were?" he asked.

"Yes. They are a new crew. I think their name is Jumping Pirates." she said, still faking tears.

"That's good. For now, I want you to return back to us. As for them... I will wait for them to get to the Grand Line and I will teach those punks a lesson for Tetris... And for you. I know you are hurt. You were a good friend of his." the man said, completely unaware of the truth.

"Yes, sir... I was..." the woman said while smiling.

"I will be waiting for you back here." the man said and the woman pushed the button on her hand again, turning off the speaker. She let out a loud laughter after the conversation and then she placed her glove back at her hand.

Then, she placed her hands at her pockets and she started walking away while speaking a few last words "Now, now... Let's find the Devil Fruit.".

What was the evil woman up to?! And who was the man the woman spoke to?!

* * *

**[Next: The Jumping Pirates arrive at the Basic Islands, three islands which are connected with three different bridges. There, they meet a girl named Fairy D. Angelie. However the crew gets in trouble when they find out that the Demon Pirates, one of the two most dangerous crews in West Blue, are after her.]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Jon Arc, Leshrah, Tact Pirates, Snakes, Tetris]**

**[Devil Fruit: Jump Jump Fruit, Unknown Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Ring, Shockwave, High Knee, Jumping Hoof, Jumping Trampoline, Falling Wheel]**


	8. Fairy and Demons

After a difficult battle against Tetris and Snakes, the Jumping Pirates finally emerged victorious and Max finally learned what Norayah carried inside it. It was the map of a treasure which could lead the world into chaos! Norayah proceeded to tell his story about his real name being Jon and how he found the map, only for Max to ask him to join his crew in order to protect him as they were friends already. While not positive at first, with his crew trying to convince him, Jon finally agreed and he is now serving as the crew's sniper!

"And this is as far as I can get us." Arthur said while docking the ship on an island. He looked a little bit tired, probably because of him steering the ship almost endlessly. That was natural.

"I didn't know that you also were the crew's navigator..." Jon said, referring to Arthur.

"I am not. I just used to travel a lot with my teacher around all the islands we have been so far and I know these seas very well... But from this point and onwards, we definitely need a navigator. We can't set sail to Illusia Kingdom without one." Arthur explained to his new comrade.

"So... If you have been here, you probably know how to get us to the greatest bar of the island, huh? I really want something to drink." Max said with a smile on his face.

"And I want something to eat. Leshrah was an excellent cook... Unlike Max who doesn't know how to boil an egg." Jon commented with a disappointed look on his face.

"I didn't want you like gourmet food before asking you to join me!" Max punched him at the head, only for Jon to strike back with a strike with his luggage at Max's head.

"ENOUGH!" Arthur yelled at his captain and the sniper.

"Hm?" the two turned and looked at him.

"Mr. Hug is sleeping... Ssssssssssssh!" he moved his index finger in front of his nose, asking them to be silent.

"Fine..." Max whispered by the time he listened to the swordsman's request.

"Is there another person on the ship?" Jon asked Max.

"No... It's his teddy bear... Just act as if it's natural." Max whispered at Jon's ear, while looking at Arthur with a weird look.

"I didn't know he was crazy... He looked pretty normal." Jon whispered at his captain.

"I know. I knew he was a weirdo but I didn't ask for the reason before I asked him to join." he kept talking to Jon with whispers.

"What are you two whispering?" Arthur asked.

"We were discussing about the new navigator we need, Arthur." Jon immediately replied, lying to Arthur.

"I see..." the swordsman said while getting off the ship, first, followed by the other two quickly.

* * *

Some time later, at the bar in the middle of the town, the three men were drinking and eating. As usual, Arthur was drinking slowly while reading his newspaper.

"Oh, come on... Just eat... and drink..." Max said while drinking some beer and immediately eating a few fries.

"I must say those fries are tasteful." Jon also encouraged Arthur to eat and drink.

"I am reading an interesting article... Sorry." he said while reading the newspaper.

"Hm? What are you reading?" Jon asked, while Max kept eating and drinking.

"Those Demon Pirates... The most wanted crew of West Blue. They are sailing around these islands we are sailing as well." Arthur said. "According to the article, rumors say they are somewhere around these islands, hiding and plotting something. I wonder what they are up to..." he kept speaking to the sniper, who seemed to not pay attention at him. "Hm? Where are you looking at?" Arthur noticed that he wasn't looking at him, only to realize that he was staring at a woman.

"That woman." Jon said while pointing at a woman. "She must be a pirate, I guess. We could ask her whether she can find us a navigator." he suggested.

"How do you know she is a pirate?" Max asked, who seemed to pay attention after all.

"It's easy. If she wasn't she wouldn't wear a straw hat. The Straw Hat is the symbol of the second pirate king. If one wears it, that means they admire him. It's some kind of a tribute to Monkey D. Luffy." Arthur explained before Jon, making him look at him with an angry look on his eyes.

"Don't interfere in my explanations. Ever. Again." Jon said with a calm voice.

"I am sorry." Arthur apologized.

"Excuse me, miss!" Max called the woman, immediately afterwards. He got up from his position while speaking, picking her attention. He smiled at her and he kept on talking. "Would you sit with us?" he asked politely.

"Erm... I'm a little bit busy at the moment." the woman with the straw hat politely declined the offer. Then, she turned her head away for a few seconds before turning towards Max again, looking at him with a face that got a red color. "Do you have a girlfriend?" she asked with her lavender colored eyes sparking while she spoke her words.

"No." Max replied.

"PERFECT!" the woman rushed at Max and sat on the table along with the three men, making Max feel a little bit uncomfortable.

"I am..." Max attempted to introduce himself but before he could do so, the woman looked at Arthur and Jon.

"The blond one has an awful stench and the other one is wearing a pink colored shirt below his short sleeved robe... Gross." she said. "If you want to have a chance with me, I'd suggest you to not wear pink." she spoke to Jon.

"I will keep that in mind." Jon smiled awkwardly.

"Anyway, I was rude to not tell you my name yet. I am Fairy D. Angelie. Nice to meet you everyone." Fairy introduced herself.

"Well... I am Million Max and here are my friends Jon Act and Arthur." Max introduced himself and the rest of the crew to the woman. "We are the Jumping Pirates." he proceeded to tell her that he is a pirate.

"A pirate? That's awesome! Being a pirate makes a man look even more handsome than he already is..." she said while looking at Max, obviously trying to flirt with him.

"I guess so." Max was obnoxious to her charms. "Either way, judging from your straw hat, I figured out..."

"We figured." Arthur and Jon interfered.

"As I said, judging from your straw hat, we figured out you are a pirate. Is that correct?" he asked, while picking up a glass of beer and drinking a little bit.

"I used to be. I'm not anymore." Fairy responded, disappointed.

"May I ask why?" Jon asked her.

"It is a long story, I shouldn't really bother you with my explanations." she said.

"Either way, do you happen to know a navigator? We need one." Arthur also entered the conversation as he couldn't really see the other two talking with the beautiful woman while he did not.

"Erm... I am a navigator." Fairy said.

"That's great! You can join us, then!" Max said with a smile on his face.

"NO! I mean... I'd love to but I can't." Fairy took a deep breath, thinking of something that bothered her.

"Why?" Max asked her.

"I will bring you trouble, that's for sure..." the woman said before getting up. "Anyway... I start feeling uncomfortable. I'd better g-" before the woman finished her sentence, the bar's door opened and two men entered, looking at the woman with the straw hat.

Fairy's eyes twitched upon looking at them. The two were causing fear to her from what it seemed. Well, that was natural considering the way they looked. The two men were quite creepy. The first one who opened the door was a man with white colored hair that were short and messy but they were falling on his forehead, completely covering it. His eyes were red colored while he dressed himself with a purple colored coat. The coat also had a hood which he didn't wear with bat ears. He had a demon tattooed at the upper part of his hands, although that wasn't easily seen. His appearance was completed with the big scythe he carried.

The other man was more frightening than the man with the scythe. He wore glasses and two fake demon horns on his forehead. A red line was painted around his eyes, matching his red colored hair. He had a small moustache and a small goatee as facial hair. He was dressed with a white colored robe, making himself look like a doctor. At the back of the robe, though, there was a jolly roger with two demon horns. He also carried a trident which he carried like a staff.

"There you are, sweetie." the man with the trident said, talking to Fairy.

"Breed!" Fairy stepped back while looking at the man.

"Hm? Do you know that guy?" Max asked the woman with the straw hat.

"Huh? Haven't you recognized that man yet?" Arthur asked Max.

"Should I?" Max scratched his head.

"Of course you should. That man is one of the most dangerous pirate in West Blue you know!" Jon commented, slightly worried about the crew's encounter with that man.

"So, I am quite famous, it seems." Breed said.

"That man has a bounty of 38,000,000 beri on his head! He is Breed Jr, the captain of the Demon Pirates!" Arthur said while looking at him and the other man.

"Guys! You should better go!" Fairy asked the Jumping Pirates to leave. "He wants me to go with him!" she said.

"Hm? Are you worried about those kids, sweetie?" Breed laughed with Fairy. "If that is the case, you can come with me and I will cause them no harm. I promise..." he made a proposition to the navigator.

"Fairy? May I ask something?" Max interrupted the conversation of Breed and Fairy.

"Yes?" Fairy asked.

"Is that guy the reason you can't come with us?" he asked.

"Yes, but it doesn't matter..." Fairy replied, disappointed.

"I see. If that is the case, then I have no other choice but to kick his butt and claim you as my navigator!" Max said while clenching his fist. "We can't leave this place without a navigator, anyway!" he spoke with a serious voice.

"Huh?" Breed looked down on Max. "Do you really know who you are messing with, brat?" he said with a wicked smile on his face.

"I will find out soon..." Max started moving towards Breed in an attempt to perform a punch on him and send him flying.

"Tab." Breed spoke to his subordinate with a calm voice. "Deal with the pest, please." he ordered his subordinate.

"Yes, master." the man with the bat looking hood grabbed his scythe and swang it swiftly, launching an air blade that struck Max at the chest and caught him off guard. "Air Reap!" he named his technique, while Max kneeled in front of the two members of the Demon Pirates.

"MAX!" Arthur unsheathed his sword, prepared to attack, while Jon grabbed his gun in order to start shooting the enemies.

"Fairy... Come to me, sweetie... I won't hurt you... A lot." Breed started walking slowly towards the woman, while laughing like a maniac.

"Wild Shots!" Jon was prepared to shoot at the two pirates. However, before he could pull the trigger, Tab had already jumped next to him and stabbed him with his scythe at the chest, striking him quickly and unexpectedly.

"Reaper Blade!" he said while pulling the scythe outside the sniper's chest, licking the blood from the blade and shocking Arthur.

"I could barely see him coming? Just how strong is he?" Arthur wondered before he started running at Tab with his great speed. "Sword Cut!" he attempted to cut the scythe user.

"Reaper Guard!" he blocked Arthur's slash with his scythe's blade. As the two blades collided, they made a loud sound, showing the strength both attacks had.

"That sounded stronger than I expected." Tab commented.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Arthur stared at the enemy's eyes.

"Interesting." Breed said while approaching a trembling Fairy. "If that is the case, we found ourselves another useful pawn." he commented with an evil smile on his face, something he used to keep from what it seemed.

"Huh?" Fairy realized what the man was up to. "ARTHUR! GO!" the navigator yelled at the swordsman, pleading him to leave. "Take the others and leave before it is too late for you!" she kept speaking.

"What do you mean?" Arthur was surprised.

"Pet Pet Collar!" Breed moved his trident forward, launching a strange green colored gel-like colar projectile at Arthur, as if he was using some short of magic.

"Hm?" Arthur turned his head only to see the collar being a meter away from him before it struck him at the neck and ultimately "captured" him.

"Sweetie... Thank you. You found me a new pet, as well." Breed laughed before using the same trick on Fairy, trapping her with the weird collar as well.

"What is that... thing?" Max got up from the floor looking at Breed and asking for an explanation.

"You are conscious? That is even greater than I expected. That way I can test my new pet!" Breed commented to himself.

"Your new what?" Max was surprised.

"My pet. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Breed Junior, son of the new world pirate Breed. I am the user of the Pet Pet Fruit. It allows me to place these collars on people and animals in order to enslave them." Breed commented. "I must admit you had a pretty strong swordsman in your crew... But now he is mine, just like the navigator." Breed said while laughing.

"Arthur? What is he talking about?" Max asked his subordinate.

"Kill him Arthur." Breed ordered his "pet" and Arthur pointed with his sword at Max, without a second thought. The power of the captain of the Demon Pirates had completely taken control of him and things looked very serious!

* * *

**[Next: Under the effects of the Pet Pet Fruit, Arthur attacks Max. Meanwhile, Breed Jr. leaves with Fairy in order to complete his evil scheme!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Jon Act, Fairy D. Angelie, Breed Jr., Tab]**

**[Devil Fruits: Jump Jump Fruit, Pet Pet Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Air Reap, Reaper Blade, Reaper Guard, Sword Cut, Pet Pet Collar, Wild Shots]**

**[Comments: This is going to be a long (compared to the previous ones) arc. I hope you like the plot :D]**


	9. The evil power of the Pet Pet Fruit

While on Yellow Island, one of the three islands which make the Basic Islands, Max, Arthur and Jon met Fairy D. Angelie, a young woman and navigator who also wore a straw hat on her head. The crew started chatting with them until Max asked her to join, something she refused because as she claimed "She would bring trouble to the crew". Right before she was about to leave, though, the Demon Pirates, a crew consisting of Breed Jr. and a scythe user named Tab appeared, asking Fairy to come with them. Realizing that Fairy did not want to follow Breed and Tab, the Jumping Pirates decided to face the Demon Pirates, despite the fact that their captain had a bounty of 38,000,000 beri on his head. However, that proved to be a mistake as both Max and Jon were slashed by the scythe user while Arthur became the victim of Breed Jr.'s power! He was the user of the Pet Pet Fruit which allowed him to place collars on people's necks and enslave people. Under the effect of the Pet Pet Fruit, Fairy and Arthur now follow Breed's orders, while Max is getting up in order to continue his battle with the Demon Pirates.

"Max! I don't know what is going on!" Arthur said while running at Max in order to slash him at the chest.

"Huh?!" Max jumped behind, avoiding the slash.

"My body cannot stop!" he started performing several quick jumps around the area before moving in front of Max and swinging his sword from above Max's head in order to cut him in two.

"Snap out of it!" Max punched the sword in order to make it bounce to the air and leave his comrade disarmed. While Max's fist started bleeding, the sword was sent upwards and it stabbed the ceiling, getting stuck on it.

"MAX, JUST LEAVE!" Arthur clenched his fist and punched his captain in the face with a strong punch, making Max bleed.

"That was strong, Arthur." Max commented while stepping back a few steps. He moved his hand below his nose to clean his face from the running blood and he then proceeded to talk to Breed. "You have some great power... Too strong, I'll say... But it has a disadvantage." he kept speaking.

"Hm?" Breed looked at him.

"It makes you physically weak! You probably rely on your subordinates way too much and you are probably a weakling and nothing more!" Max spoke to the enemy captain, who was obviously angry because of the words that came out of Max's mouth.

"You think so? If you do so, fine!" Breed spoke with an angry voice at the captain. "Stop, Arthur." he commanded Arthur and the swordsman stopped, sighing out of relief as he thought Breed would take on Max instead in order to proove him wrong. However, he was mistaken. Breed Jr. looked around, staring at the rest of the people who were inside the bar and were now hiding below the tables in order to avoid getting hit by the pirates. He smiled, as usual, and he pointed at one of them with his trident. "If you say so, I guess I have no other choice but to rely on all those people who are around! Pet Pet Collar Army!" he yelled while launching a barrage of collars from his trident, as if he was casting a spell with it. The collars struck all the innocent bystanders who were hiding, getting them enslaved as well.

"NO!" the people who wanted to hide, grabbed their collars in order to take them off.

"That is pointless!" Breed said. "Anyway, I have a single order for you. Defeat that bastard and bury him alive. All of you... And the other one who is lying on the floor with that gun." he referred to them and he then turned to Arthur, in order to command him as well. However, by the time he turned he noticed at the door closing with force. Arthur was trying to escape in order to not receive any orders from the man who enslaved him.

"I'll go after him." the silent until then, Tab, was about to run behind Arthur in order to catch him and bring him back.

"No, let him go... It is pointless, if you chase him. A disobedient pet, will always be disobedient. He would better burn to ashes along with the rest of the island by the time my plan is complete. You'd better follow me to the laboratory." Breed suggested while grabbed Fairy, who seemed to not want to follow him as she showed some resistance.

"She resists, I think." Tab commented.

"Walk like a dog, Fairy, and follow me!" Breed commanded the young woman, who proceeded to start walking like a dog.

"You bastard!" Max yelled at Breed.

"You have more serious things to deal with, don't you think?" Breed spoke to Max, who was attacked by one of the humans he enslaved with his ability.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" the man did not want to attack Max.

"Sorry, but I have no other choice... Jumping Uppercut!" Max punched the man and sent him on the ceiling, crushing.

"Good luck." Breed got outside and left with Tab and Fairy, who was still walking like a dog.

"This is bad..." Max thought while jumping at Jon and picking him up. "I have to figure out a way to deal with them quickly and then go after Breed... But what about Arthur? I can't let him all alone... But on the other hand, Breed said he will let him die along with everyone. I have to stop Breed. But what can I do by myself? That guy is really dangerous... I would better go alone. But on the other hand, there is that subordinate he has. If I go against Breed by myself, he will cause me enough trouble and Breed will eventually beat me. And Fairy... What is he planning with her?!" Max kept thinking, while jumping around the bar, dodging the punching attacks of the many people Breed Jr. enslaved.

"Max..." Jon woke up.

"Hm? Are you alright?" Max was surprised to find out that Jon was actually fine.

"Yes... I woke up some time ago, but I couldn't show it. Breed could enslave me, as well. My chest still aches from that blade attack, though..." Jon said while rubbing his injured chest and Max stopped jumping, letting him stand on his feet.

"That's great... At least I have someone to help me." Max said while looking at Jon. "Listen. I want you to deal with those people... Don't damage them a lot, just stop them." he ordered his sniper. "If you buy me enough time to leave, then they will all have trouble following their orders... I doubt they will find me and the effect might wear off eventually." Max hoped.

"NOOOOOOO!" all the people who were enslaved by Breed Jr. disagreed while also rushing at Max in order to punch him in his face.

"Huh?" Max was surprised while punching them one after another, sending them flying thanks to his powers, before they all got smashed on the ceiling.

"We... We are not Breed's slaves! Defeat us as soon as possible, even if you damage us!" another man said, while charging at Max before he fell on the floor in order to tackle him and make him fall on the ground.

"What do you mean?" Max gulped, while kicking the man away, even if he did not really want to.

"We have some pride!" a man charged at Max from behind, carrying a knife on his hand. He was about to stab him.

"Wild Shots!" Jon protected his captain by shooting the enemy at the stomach, striking him with two bullets.

"Arrrrrrrgh!" the enemy screamed in pain and he fell on the ground, crying.

"BREED! YOU ARE A BASTARD!" another enemy yelled while rushing at Max with his elbow.

"Jumping Hoof!" Max jumped, avoiding the elbow attack. Then, as he fell, he struck the enemy with a stomping attack, sending him on the air.

"We are not his slaves... We'd better die rather than serve him!" a man said while grabbing a glass and throwing it at Jon.

"..." Jon did not really have any words to speak, as he looked very sad and angry about the situation which was taking place around him. Breed was not a regular man. He was really a demon, just like the name of his crew indicated. His ways of doing his dirty jobs were the meanest Jon had ever seen in his entire life. The captain of the Demon Pirates was an insane person. What Breed Jr. had just done was something more than sick. Not only he caused trouble to Fairy, not only he enslaved Arthur and turned him against his captain against his own will, but he also used his ability on innocent people in order to turn them against Max and anger him. The reason the Jumping Pirates stood against him at first was very different. But now, it was something personal. He was an enemy that should be defeated for good. All these thoughts passed through Jon's mind as he raised his gun and shot the thrown glass, shattering it completely.

"You are all right." Max said as soon as he realized that Jon made up his mind about what was going on. From the way he shot the glass and the look he had on his eyes, the captain could understand Jon. He wanted to do what all those people wanted. He prefered defeating and injuring them, rather than leaving them as slaves of Breed Jr. "Go Jon! Do as they want. We cannot allow Breed to do what he wants." he said with a serious look on his face.

"Thank you." a man said with tears all over his face, while running at Max, trying to punch him. Before he could even reach him, though, he was shot at the back and he fell on the floor, lying on a small lake of blood.

"No. We should thank you. You made the job easier for us... Otherwise, we would be stuck here, trying to figure out an easy way to deal with you." Max said, while a tear fell from his eye.

"Oh, Max, wait." Jon spoke while shooting at the stabbed sword at the ceiling, causing it to fall down because of the bullet's impact. "Take this." he dropped the sword at Max's hand.

"Oh... Arthur's sword..." Max said, while grabbing the katana.

"It might be useful." Jon said. "Who knows... Arthur might find a way to avoid that shitty ability and help you."

"You are right." Max said while running outside the bar, closing the door.

"Good luck, pirate." everybody wished good luck at Max, before rushing at Jon in order to attack him.

* * *

"Damn it... Where could he be, now?" Max thought while using his ability to jump high on the sky, trying to track him from the sky. "He can't be away..." he said while he kept jumping, looking around.

"You are wrong... He is away." Tab flew with great speed at Max and attempted to slash him with his scythe, striking him at his right arm and making him fall on the ground.

"Argh!" Max's back hurt as he fell. He opened his eyes, looking at the enemy who was flying above him. Tab had two bat wings on his back and his face had just changed into that of a bat. His ears were bigger than before, as well. He had transformed into a bat.

"My boss was positive you would try to follow him." Tab said with a smile on his face. "He sent me to beat the crap out of you until you finally see his genius." he kept speaking, speaking with great words about his captain.

"His genius? Let me laugh... HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Max laughed at Tab's words. "That guy is just a lunatic." he finished speaking angering Tab.

"Take that back!" Tab swang his scythe, launching a swift air blade at Max in order to cut him down.

"Jump!" Max used his fruit ability, jumping and avoiding the air slash which struck the ground and left a deep cut on the spot it struck.

"Air Reap!" Tab performed another air slash attack, aiming at Max's chest again. However, this time, the captain of the Jumping Pirates started diving on the ground, dodging the attack once again.

"Damn... He is not only attack me but he is also flying high enough for me to reach him... I can't reach him with my jumps if I don't step on something to jump again!" Max whispered to himself, while reaching the ground and standing on his feet.

"Oh really?" Tab smiled.

"Huh? How did you listen to me?" Max was surprised.

"You idiot... Haven't you seen that I am a bat? I have eaten the Bat Bat Fruit... Not only I can transform into a bat, but I can also hear you very, very well." Tab explained.

"I see... So I guess I can't hide anywhere if you proove to be stronger than I am, right?" Max asked the bat-human hybrid.

"Exactly." Tab started flying towards Max afterwards very quickly, grabbing his scythe with both fists in order to cut down Max with a powerful, slashing attack.

"Jump!" Max jumped away once again right before the scythe attack struck him.

"Reaper's Call!" Tab screeched loudly, hurting Max's ears.

"Shit!" Max closed his ears as he started falling on the ground.

"Reaper Blade!" the bat human hybrid attempted to cut down Max, while he was falling. With Max's hands around his ears to protect himself from the screech, Tab realized it was a great chance for him to attack the pirate captain. After all, he could not protect himself with his hands with them being occupied.

"That's bad!" Max noticed the approaching scythe user who struck him with a slash at the chest and made him fall down on the ground once again. Tab remained on the air, still flying, while Max was lying on the ground again, looking at him just like before.

"You can't be serious... Your swordsman's attacks were much more dangerous!" Tab smiled.

"My swordsman?" Max whispered. "Oh yes... That's it..." he thought.

"Yes. Your swordsman showed enough potential. Maybe he could be able to stop me."

"Arthur... That's it!" Max got up quickly. "Well, then if that's the case I guess I have to receive some help from him, don't you think?" the captain grabbed Arthur's sword, which Jon gave to him in order to give it back to Arthur.

"Are you nuts? Do you really think that a sword can help you? You can't become a swordsman in one day, fool."

"I know that." Max threw the sword high on the air and then he performed a jump. While reaching the maximum height he could reach by himself thanks to his abilities, Max dived at the sword and placed both his feet on it, performing a second jump while on the air. A jump which was capable enough of allowing Max to reach Tab's height.

"Huh?!" Tab noticed Max arriving in front of him. The captain clenched his fists together and he struck Tab from above, sending him downwards. "Jumping Hammer!" he yelled while hitting Tab on the head and he started following him while Tab fell downwards.

"Reaper Guard!" Tab moved his scythe to defend himself with its blade, while falling.

"That won't be enough for me!" Max said when he reached the bat-human hybrid, kicking the scythe and making it jump away from Tab's hands thanks to his abilities, while Max also performed another jump. The scythe and Max moved upwards, while Tab was still falling.

"It's not over yet! Reaper's Call!" Tab started screeching loudly and he regained his balance, flying towards his scythe in an attempt to grab it and get it back.

"No! I can't let him!" Max closed his ears and he dived forward in an attempt to be below it, so that the scythe would fall on his hands.

"Reaper Kick!" Tab changed his direction and flied at Max from behind, striking him with a kick at the spine and making him fall down on the ground.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Max screamed in pain as he got smashed on the flour, while Tab regained his scythe and looked at him. He spinned the scythe and when he stopped doing so, he pointed at Max with the edge of the blade, staring at him from above again.

"Your attack was strong and you even outsmarted me... But I guess this is the end." he moved the scythe swiftly, launching an air blade again, which approached Max with great speed.

"As if I would let you.". Just before the air blade completely cut through Max's body, another air blade was thrown and collided with Tab's attack. The two air blades nullified each other and Tab was surprised to see that a figure protected Max.

"Hm?" he turned his head and stared at the man, only for his eyes to twitch. He was the blond man with the brown colored leather jacket and the black colored pants. His green eyes shined just like Max's white colored eyes did when he saw him.

"Arthur!" Max was glad to watch his subordinate, carrying his katana and pointing with it at Tab.

"I am sorry I was late, captain." Arthur said with a smile on his face. "From now on, this blade will be only protecting you." he finished speaking. Arthur had come to Max's rescue.

* * *

**[Next: Arthur reveals to Max where Breed Jr. has taken Fairy and Max leaves, while Arthur takes on Tab. Meanwhile, Breed Jr. commences his plan to destroy the three Basic Islands!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Jon Act, Fairy D. Angelie, Breed Jr., Tab]**

**[Devil Fruits: Jump Jump Fruit, Bat Bat Fruit, Pet Pet Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Pet Pet Collar Army, Jumping Hammer, Jumping Hoof, Reaper Guard, Air Reap, Reaper Screech, Reaper Blade]**


	10. The plan of the demon

With Breed Jr. having both Arthur and Fairy under his control, the Jumping Pirates were in big trouble, which got even bigger when Breed used his ability to enslave several other people who were around, leaving while Max and Jon had to deal with them. In an attempt to stop Breed's plan and avenge all those people who were treated as pawns to Breed's evil plans, Max left Jon alone to deal with all the innocent people that begged him to finish them off so they wouldn't be Breed's slaves. However, by the time he got outside the bar and searched for him, Tab appeared and attacked him, using his powers of the Bat Bat Fruit to gain the upper hand in the battle. As Max was damaged from the small battle in the bar, Tab eventually managed to overpower him and send him on the ground, swinging his scythe and sending an air blade to finish him off. The air blade, though, would never reach him. Another air blade struck Tab's deadly attack, completely nullifying it, only for Tab to notice Arthur had come to his captain's rescue, now that Breed was away and he could not give any commands to the swordsman.

"You think you are smart, huh?" Tab flew downwards and landed on the ground before transforming into a human. He grabbed a Den Den Mushi he kept hidden inside his pockets and he pushed a button, calling somebody, probably his captain.

"He is calling Breed, Arthur! Get away!" Max looked at Arthur with a worried look on his face and ordered him to leave. Arthur, though, would not really listen to his captain. He just stayed there and let Tab make the call, without moving an inch. "Are you nuts?! Just leave! I will deal with him!" Max urged his subordinate to leave.

"Yes?" Breed responded from his Den Den Mushi.

"I found Arthur. It looks like he is waiting for an order." Tab commented.

"Really? Is he an idiot?" Breed laughed behind his Den Den Mushi. "Anyway... Arthur kill your former captain." he gave an order to his "pet".

"Did you listen to him? Go!" Tab shouted at Arthur with a smile on his face, thinking that his plan worked. However, Arthur was not moving an inch, once again.

"Hm?" Max stared at the swordsman while getting up from the ground.

"What are you doing? Are you disobeying?!" Tab screamed and threw his Den Den Mushi on the ground out of anger.

"My job is done here... I guess I will turn off the communications. Tab, you would better run back here as soon as possible. In 10 minutes, "that" will be ready and our sweet Fairy is going to start her rampage... Hahahahahahaha!" Breed said while turning off his Den Den Mushi.

"I see... I guess I'll be fast!" Tab spoke to himself while waiting to see what Arthur was going to do after receiving his orders from his "master".

Arthur started slowly walking towards Max's direction. His green colored eyes kept shining under the light of the sun. Sweat was running from his whole body, making Arthur's stench even more difficult to stand. However, that did not really bother anyone at that moment. Max and Tab were waiting to see what Arthur was about to do... Would he turn his blade against his captain again or not?

"Arthur... We are not friends for a very long time but you are my best friend. That's all I have to say." Max smiled to his subordinate, as he noticed him approaching. The way Arthur moved was not his natural walk. He was thinking of something. A murderous look was surrounding his face, slightly scaring Max. It was not that Max believed Arthur was stronger than him. He just couldn't really stand the idea that his friend would turn his blade against him. If his life was about to end on Yellow Island, he wanted it to be done by the hand of the enemy and not by the hand of his friend, especially when he was hurt somewhat badly from his previous battles. And more importantly, even if he wasn't afraid of betrayal, he could not stand the idea of fighting with his subordinate. He was a precious friend of his. Max would never use his fist to attack any of his friends.

"Finish him, Arthur! Just finish him!" Tab laughed, before he noticed Arthur vanishing from his position. He obviously run with great speed... However, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh?" Max turned his head towards Tab, only to notice Arthur standing right behind Tab, with his sword prepared to be sheathed.

"What?" Tab turned his head as well, looking at Tab who was sheathing his sword.

"Those earplugs... They were really helpful." he said while taking off two earplugs he used to cover his ears using his left hand, while also sheathing his katana with his right hand. "Secret Technique: Skeleton Sword!" he named his technique before a very big and deep cut appeared on Tab's chest, spraying the area with his blood.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Tab screeched loudly before falling on his knees. "You... bastard..." he started coughing blood.

"I figured I wouldn't be affected if I couldn't listen to Breed's orders. Taking back any orders he gave me was a big mistake." Arthur explained. "Go Max. I will deal with him. We do not have much time left." he kept speaking.

"You really are the best subordinate one can have." Max said.

"Thank you..." Arthur accepted the compliment. "Now, listen. Mr. Hug told me Breed Jr. is hiding at Red Island... If you follow the red colored bridged outside the town, you will end up there."

"I take the compliment back." Max whispered.

"What?" Arthur asked.

"Nothing, keep talking..."

"The Basic Islands are three different islands: Yellow Island, Red Island and Blue Island. They are all connected with three bridges. If you want to get to Red Island, you have to follow the red colored bridge. Do you understand?" Arthur explained.

"I do..."

"Enough with the blabbering!" Tab got up, despite his deep cut. "As if I will let you go..." he got up from the floor, instantly transforming into his bat human hybrid form.

"Don't think about me... I can take him down. Just go!" Arthur said and Max nodded before he started jumping away.

"You are not leaving! Air Reap!" Tab grabbed his scythe and sent an air blade towards Max.

"Sword Gust!" Arthur moved his sword to launch an equally powerful air blade, just like he did before, blocking Tab's attack.

"You think he is capable enough of stopping my boss?" Tab laughed.

"I don't know if he is... But I am pretty sure he will find a way to get rid of this annoying collar for me." Arthur replied.

* * *

At the bar...

"Damn it... That power is amazingly strong!" Jon commented while shooting down an enemy with his gun and then grabbing his luggage to smash it to the face of another one. "No matter how much I beat them, they refuse to fall down!" he said, worried that the battle would never end. He wanted to leave and assist Max.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the town on Yellow Island...

Max was jumping quickly towards the direction of the red colored bridge that could lead him to Red Island. While jumping, Max could see the bridge from a distance. Hopefully, thanks to his ability he could reach it faster than regular people, but he was still worried he would not be fast enough to find and stop Breed. "Fairy! I am coming for you!" Max yelled while jumping. "Breed! I am going to kick your ass, that's for sure!" he kept shouting, his voice echoing at the island.

At Red Island, Breed Jr. was walking while Fairy was following him, still moving like a dog. The woman with the straw hat was still being punished by Breed for her disobedience and for the hatred she had in his face. And that was not something unnatural. So far, Breed Jr. had been chasing her for some stupid plan, dragging innocent people in the whole story. The Jumping Pirates, as well as the innocent civilians he enslaved with his power had nothing to do with him and her.

"You bastard... You might be controling me now, but remember... You will meet your end by my hand." she with an angry voice and an evil expression on her eyes just when the two arrived at a small hut. She could not hide her hatred while speaking.

"You can hate me as much as you like, sweetie. I happen to be the one to command you and you will eventually understand. If you don't, you will be walking like a dog for the rest of your life." Breed spoke to the woman.

"Huh?" Fairy's eyes twitched and she gulped right after she listened to the pirate's words. "What is that supposed to mean?" she stopped moving while speaking.

"Oh dear... You thought I would be done with you after destroying these islands?" Breed asked. "You are very wrong... You shall be my precious pet for the rest of your life. You shall be the key that will turn me into the Pirate King!" he yelled while clenching his fist and looking at the sky. "By the time I am done with this place, the winds shall not blow to the east nor to the west... They will blow to me!" he spoke with his eyes shining out of excitement.

"Just what do you have in your crazy mind?" Fairy was shocked as she heard the pirate.

"I will explain it soon, sweetie. Just follow me inside my hut and you shall find out." he said while opening the door and making a gesture so that Fairy could get inside first. "Ladies first." he said.

"As if you have manners, you pig!" Fairy mocked him.

"Just get inside, bitch." Breed walked next to her and kicked her inside, before she stepped into the hut because of Breed's effect.

After Fairy got dragged into the hut, she looked around. The hut was not an ordinary hideout. All around, there were several sheets with chemical reactions tossed around. On the walls, there were pictures of the anatomy of several human bodies and on the tables there were several glasses with different chemicals. On the wall, there was a picture of a raccoon or something with a blue colored nose.

"Huh? What is this place?" Fairy looked at her surroundings.

"This is my laboratory." Breed commented. "I have been working here for almost a year." he explained.

"A laboratory? What would a pirate need a laboratory for?" Fairy wanted to know what was going on.

"I am not only a pirate... I am a doctor." Breed explained while sitting on a chair.

"WHAT?!" Fairy started sweating. "Does that mean... Are you going to put up an experiment on my body?!" she kept talking while trembling.

"You are a smart one." Breed finally started his explanation. "You see, several years ago, when the Straw Hat Pirates entered the New World, my father went after them and he made an accidental discovery."

"Hm?"

"The pet of the crew, "Cotton Candy Lover" Tony Tony Chopper... That was his discovery. Tony Tony Chopper was a reindeer with the abilities of the Human Human Fruit. However, unlike any other fruit user, he could transform into more forms than he was originally supposed to. Furthermore, he used a drug he called "Rumble Ball" to add one more transformation into his arsenal and transform into a giant hybrid of his two natures... A monster combination of a human and a reindeer."

"Oh shit..." Fairy realized what was going on. "You don't mean..."

"Yes, sweetie. I do."

* * *

"Reaper Guard!" Tab's scythe was put in a defensive stance, blocking a slashing attack from the swordsman of the Jumping Pirates.

"You are really strong... I didn't expect you to be able to fight after taking my most powerful attack." Arthur praised the scythe user. "Not to mention that your skills with the scythe are unique."

"Oh, you think?" Tab smiled. "You haven't seen anything yet." he started spinning his scythe for a few seconds with both hands, pointing at Arthur with it. Then, a few seconds later a circular air blade was launched at Arthur, with much more speed than Tab's regular air slashes, considering the time he took to create it. "Reaper Circle!"

"I can't block it!" Arthur thought. "I have to figure out something." he kept thinking but unfortunately he could not come up with anything. He run away from the fast moving air blade circle, but the attack struck him at his left side, causing him to bleed terribly.

"Did that hurt?" Tab asked with sarcasm.

"Nope." Arthur replied with sarcasm, as well.

"I see... Reaper Blade!" the bat human hybrid flew forward, aiming to stab Arthur at the stomach with his scythe.

"I am not that weakened!" Arthur struck the curved part of the scythe, redirecting the piercing attack away and leaving an opening at Tab's body as his hands were occupied with holding the scythe.

"Reaper Screech!" Tab let out a powerful screech, distracting Arthur who did not attack. As a result, Tab took his time to grab the scythe with both hands, raise it upwards and then swing it downwards in order to cut Arthur in two with symetry.

"As if!" Arthur moved his sword horizontally in front of the top of his head, blocking the cutting attack. Then, he proceeded to slide on the ground in order to tackle Tab and make him lose his balance.

"No way." Tab flew above to avoid the tackling attack.

"That's what I wanted!" Arthur immediately got up and propelled himself upwards with his sword spinning as he moved. "Sword Drill!" he moved at the bat human hybrid in an attempt to pierce him from below while he was flying on the sky.

The battle was getting more tense!

* * *

"But why me?!" Fairy screamed in agony.

"In my crew, sweetie, I already have a zoan devil fruit user... My good Tab is the user of the Bat Bat Fruit. So what? What will he do if he eats Rumble Balls? He may cause some chaos but that's it... However, if I give it to a mythical zoan fruit user, the results will be much more destructive, don't you think?" Breed revealed his plan with his eyes sparkling out of excitement.

"You bastard! Once I get off this collar, you are doomed!" she threatened the captain of the Demon Pirates.

"I doubt you ever will. With you under my control, nobody will ever try to deal with me ever again!" he laughed.

"No way! You are nothing but a weakling! Even if you do what you want, somebody will stop you!" she shouted at the pirate.

"Do you think I haven't thought about that?" Breed laughed. "I already did... And you are very unlucky."

"Huh?"

"Recently, Lord Vale of the Shichibukai has disappeared... A spot is open! When the World Government sees what I do with the Basic Islands, when they realize that I have a more formidable power than a Buster Call under my control, who do you think is going to earn that spot?" Breed finished explaining his evil plans to the young navigator.

"And with the World Government backing up your actions..." Fairy barely managed to speak these words.

"Nobody will touch me. Exactly!"

"Why... Why is all this happening?!" Fairy started crying.

"Sweetie... If you weren't that obsessed into searching for a boyfriend, you would never meet me in the first place... YOU were the one to reveal me about your abilities, don't you remember?" Breed wanted to make the navigator feel guilty about the state she was in.

"I know... That's the worse!" she screamed at the captain. "If I figured out you were a monster earlier than I did, I wouldn't end up like this and the islands wouldn't be in danger!" she kept crying, speaking with difficulty.

"Ssssssssh. Don't cry. It will all be over. From now on, you won't be remembering most things you do. Not to mention that the master doesn't like seeing his dear, sweet pet crying." he spoke while grabbing three rumble balls he hid in a box and he approached Fairy, prepare to feed them to Fairy.

"FAAAAAAAAAAAAAIRY!" Max opened the door, slamming it.

"MAX!" Fairy was glad to see the captain of the Jumping Pirates arriving in time.

"I finally found you." the young man with the white colored eyes said. "It's all over, Breed!"

"Oh really?" Breed smiled. "I doubt that. It's all starting now." Breed stomped his trident on the ground while staring at the captain of the Jumping Pirates. The two men exchanged angry looks as a battle was about to erupt between the two. "Fairy, eat those things!" Breed broke the short lasting silence, ordering the woman with the straw hat to eat the Rumble Balls while throwing them at her. The captain of the Demon Pirates was commencing his plan!

* * *

**[Next: Max and Breed start their battle! Meanwhile, Arthur continues his battle with Tab!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Jon Act, Fairy D. Angelie, Breed Jr., Tab, Civilians]**

**[Devil Fruits: Jump Jump Fruit, Bat Bat Fruit, Pet Pet Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Secret Technique: Skeleton Sword, Air Reap, Sword Gust, Reaper Guard, Reaper Blade, Reaper Screech, Sword Drill]**

**[Comments: The arc is ending in the 13th chapter and then I am starting with the Illusia Kingdom Arc, the last arc before the Grand Line. So, I need a few ideas for a Grand Line arc. Anyone interested can PM me their ideas. Thank you :D]**


	11. The demon above the dragon-Fairy

At the last second, Arthur saved Max from Tab's air blade and he told him where Breed was heading. Max immediately run to the second island of the three Basic Islands, Red Island, leaving Arthur to face Tab. At the time Max was tracking Breed, at Red Island Breed informed Fairy about his evil plan. The man would feed her with a drug which was invented by the doctor of the Pirate King, Tony Tony Chopper in order to amplify the powers of the mythical zoan type devil fruit he knew she had and turn her into an unstoppable monster he would control. That way, he would attract the attention of the World Government to be asked to become a Shichibukai, taking advantage of the recent disappearance of one of the Seven Warlords. However, just before he fed her the drugs, Max finally arrived at his hut, prepared to face him and take his revenge over what he had done to Arthur, Fairy and all the other people who were at the bar. A battle was about to erupt between the two, while Fairy was given the Rumble Balls and was ordered to eat them!

"You are persistent, aren't you?!" Breed spoke to his enemy, while pointing his trident at him. The trident was surrounded with a weird, green colored jelly liquid right after he pointed it, with Breed smirking. "Pet Pet Collar Army!" a barrage of collars was sent to Max.

"Jump!" Max started jumping around, avoiding them.

"Do you think you can do that for long?!" Breed grabbed his trident with his two hands, enhancing it with his Devil Fruit ability furthermore. More collars were created at a rapid rate, faster than before.

"This is bad... He knows how to use his Devil Fruit perfectly. I really can't dodge them for long!" Max thought before he moved behind a table and he grabbed it in order to use it as a shield. He lifted it and placed it in front of him, blocking the incoming jelly-like projectiles.

"This..." Breed started running at Max. "Is..." he stopped by the time he arrived in front of him. "Pointless!" he stabbed the table with his trident, which was surrounded with his power. The green colored jelly moved to the table and started expanding at it, slowly covering it. "Pet Pet Plague!"

"Damn you!" Max dropped the table at Breed when he had the chance. If he kept grabbing it, the jelly would expand on his body as well and turn him into one of Breed's slaves.

However, Breed would not let himself get hit by the table easily. He held his position and pointed at it with his trident, stabbing it in the middle and breaking it in two different parts which kept moving right next to his sides, thus protecting himself from the attack.

"He is an expert at the usage of the trident, huh?" Max was worried. "And I can't touch him, as well. If I do, he will just use that annoying power of his to surround me with that jelly and turn me into his slave!" he thought, while looking at Breed.

"What's the matter, Million Max? Are you trying to figure out a way to beat me?" Breed laughed at him while slowly approaching.

"What now? Can you read minds, as well?" Max spoke with sarcasm.

"Oh that is a different Devil Fruit power, I don't have." Breed said. "I am just smart."

"You are too cocky for a smart person..."

"That doesn't change my intelligence." Breed swang his trident, sending three small air slashes at Max.

"You, too?!" quickly jumped out of the way, but he smacked his head on the ceiling. He was careless and forgot he was in a building while he was about to dodge the attack. He fell on the floor, lying on it.

"You are a good-for-nothing, aren't you? It's no surprising you have such a small crew." Breed approached him and stood above Max's lying body, moving his trident at a distance of an inch from Max's stomach.

"Hahahahahahaha..." Max laughed. "You are not different, I think. You only have one subordinate."

"Pehahahahahahahahaha!"

"Hm?" Max looked surprised.

"You are funny! You are very funny!" Breed's eyes shined as he started speaking. "I used to have a large crew... I just conducted the same experiment on Tab without controling him and... Oh, well, my dear subordinates died. They couldn't face the monster I transformed him into, despite their strength. They all ended up as pray. Unlike you, it wasn't that they didn't want me to be their captain. I just didn't need them anymore..." he spoke with a wicked voice while explaining why he was different, after all.

"You sick bastard!" Max's eyes twitched, swearing at Breed out of his anger. However, before he could move he felt the trident slightly piercing his stomach. The captain of the Demon Pirates took his chance to damage him, after all.

"AAAAH!" Max started coughing blood.

"You weren't the threat I thought you were when you came... It won't matter even if I turn you into my slave... So you would better die now." he was about to push the trident deeper into Max's body, before he was stopped by a loud scream.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" Fairy's voice was heard as she swallowed the last one of the rumble balls. She fell onto her knees and she grabbed the floor with her hands, trying to withstand the transformation. Scales appeared and disappeared on her body for a few minutes, until they were finally stabilized.

"This is it..." Breed kicked Max's body away and started walking towards Fairy, looking at her. "THIS IS IT!"

"What have you done?!" Max who was still lying on the floor stared at the woman.

"RAWWWWWWWWWWWWWR!" Fairy kept screaming as her body color started changing. It turned from white to red, from red to white for a couple of seconds, in a similar way with the scales before, until it remained red. Her face started extending forward, taking the shape of a dragon's face and her eyes got angrier and eviler. The green colored colar still remained on her neck, becoming larger while her neck got thicker and started extending along with the rest of his body which became much, much longer, just like the neck of a giraffe. Two wings small wings sprouted on her back and started expanding, becoming very large. Claws appeared on the young navigator's hands which became gigantic and muscular, while she was standing on her two tiny compared to her body legs, which were as big as they were on her original form, turning her into a real monster-hybrid of a human and a dragon. Eventually, her head completely broke the ceiling of the hut due to her big size, leaving the place wide open from above. The navigator breathed fire at the sky, launching a large and powerful flamethrower as a demonstration of her strength.

"SHE FINALLY TRANSFORMED!" Breed walked towards Fairy with an excited look on his face. "PERFECT!"

"You monster!" Max got up. "What have you done to her?!"

"I made her perfect... The perfect pet for a perfect master!" Breed complimented himself. "Fairy, I am giving you your first orders... Smash that guy on the wall!" the captain of the demon pirates ordered the monster dragon.

"Fairy... Snap out of it! You are stronger than he is, you can't obey him!" Max looked at Fairy as she walked towards him, stomping the floor and leaving big holes on it, despite her small legs.

"RAWWWWWWR!" the dragon breathed some smoke from her nose, making Breed and Max cough before she slapped the captain of the Jumping Pirates on the wall. However, the attack did not end there. The force of the slap was so strong that Max broke the wall and was sent away to a tree, smashing his back on it before he stopped.

"Unbelievable!" Breed jumped on Fairy's back. "Your power is beyond my imagination!" he remarked. "Now, for your first order... Burn everything into asses! Fly above the island and incinirate anything you find!" Breed commanded the dragon monster and his "pet" started flying while breathing powerful flamethrowers that immediately caused an enormous fire at Red Island. After all, the place was kind of remote, having only a forest.

* * *

"It worked..." Tab was flying on the sky and looked at the direction of Red Island. A big cloud of smoke was spreading around the island, while several citizens had appeared on the streets and looked at it. Despite the battle that was taking place at the streets of the town on Yellow Island and the danger, they got out to see what was happening at Red Island.

"The forest is burning!" the citizens spoke to each other, having a good distance from the two people who were fighting. However, Tab was capable of listening to them thanks to his ability of hearing better in his bat form.

"It's okay... I have already called the marines!" another citizen said. "They have seen from their basement what is going on. They are just waiting for orders from Commodore Lysandre from the Illusia Kingdom Basement."

"Huh? The marines?" Tab yelled.

"What? I don't see any marines! Don't try to distract me! Sword Gust!" Arthur launched an air blade at the enemy.

"No... I heard it... The marines are coming! I have to tell the boss to be cautious. If he kills them, they will want him death and they won't accept him!" Tab thought while slashing the air blade with his scythe, dispersing it.

"What are you saying? Are you leaving?" Arthur asked the enemy.

"I won't explain anything to you..." Tab started flying away quickly towards the direction of Red Island, before a shot was heard and the man fell on the ground, unable to fly. Blood was running from one of his wings. A bullet had struck him.

"Hey, Arthur! Why would you let him go?!" Jon was standing on a roof, yelling at Arthur. He was carrying a sniper on his hand, probably the weapon he used to snipe the bat human hybrid.

"Jon! You should stop that! It's not your business to get in my battles!" Arthur was angry. "I was about to follow him!"

"You two..." Tab got up. "You have got over the limit!" he started screeching loudly while running towards the building on which Jon was standing on the roof. Using his undamaged wing, he barely managed to fly at the top of the building, using his scythe to point at the sniper of the Jumping Pirates.

"Hm? What? Do you want some more?!" Jon yelled at the scythe user.

"You... You wanted revenge on me from stabbing you, huh?" Tab asked.

"Yes. That, too. But the reason I want you down is to avenge all those people that suffered because of your boss! I am carrying their will to stop you and nothing will prevent me from doing so!" Jonn explained.

"Their will? They were just pets... Pets who are going to die just like everyone else here on this island! What kind of will can a pet have?!" Tab yelled at Jon, prepared to rush at him.

"A will like mine! We are not your crazy boss' pets, you know! Sword Drill!" Arthur's voice was heard from behind Tab as he stabbed him from behind with his sword and drilled it inside the bat human hybrid's body, drilling it so much that its blade extended from Tab's chest.

"You... bastard... I... didn't listen to you..." Tab coughed some blood when Arthur retracted the blade back and placed it in its sheath.

"I am taking you with me!" Tab used his remaining strength to swing his scythe and cut down Arthur, who simply jumped down the roof calmly, before Jon pulled the trigger of his sniper, shooting bullets one after another into his body.

"This was a coordinated attack for all those people I had to shoot because of your boss." Jon yelled at Tab, while the man fell on the roof's floor, surrounded by a lake of blood.

"Blood..." Tab attempted to drink his own blood to gain some of his strength back. He slowly extended his tongue outside his mouth and attempted to lick his own blood to get some of his strength back. However, just before he started draining his blood back, a shadow covered him and he moved his eyes upwards, only to see Jon pointing at his head, that time with a shotgun.

"And this is because I don't like you." he moved the shotgun and shot the bat human at the undamaged wing, breaking it. "Now, all that's left is to save Fairy and deal with Breed..." Jon commented after placing his shotgun back at his luggage which was lying open on the ground. Then, he jumped off the roof, landing on his feet near Arthur.

"Didn't you overdo it again?" Arthur asked, surprised with the violence Jon showed.

"I guess so... But he deserved it." Jon replied.

"He definitely did..." Arthur said. "Isn't it too hot, by the way?" he remarked a few seconds later.

"It is..." Jon agreed before the two were covered by a shadow, in a similar way Tab did before.

"Hm?" they stared above, only for their eyes to pop out. "WHAT... IS... THAT?!" they looked at the dragon monster Breed forcingly turned Fairy into.

"Hello, over there." Breed smiled while looking at the two, just when the dragon breathed fire on the sky, showing off the powers.

"..." Jon gulped and had no words to speak.

"So this is what caused that smoke..." Arthur commented while taking a deep breath.

"Long time no see... Arthur."

"You..." Arthur said before he moved his hands into his pockets, grabbing his earplugs and placing them inside his ears to not listen to anything the enemy ordered him to do.

"Earplugs? Pehahahahahaha... You are smart."

"What did you say?" Arthur could not listen to him.

"Nothing. Burn this place to ashes, Fairy!" Breed commanded and Fairy started burning the houses one after another, easily surrounding them with fire.

"RUN, ARTHUR!" Jon grabbed Arthur and started running away.

"Don't speak to me, I can't hear you!" Arthur complained while the two run.

"No matter where you go, you will become nothing more but ashes, just like Red Island! Can't you smell it?! The smell of burnt wood... Soon enough it will merge with the smell of burnt flesh... Magneficent!" Breed spoke to himself, while looking at the hell-like scenery the dragon monster created.

"Oh crap!" Jon stopped running. He turned towards the dragon and watched, realizing that Breed and his pet monster would not follow them. Instead, they sticked into destroying the town on Yellow Island.

"What?" Arthur stopped along with the sniper.

"The civilians I shot! They can't move away to escape!" Jon thought with a worried look on his face.

"What's the matter?" Arthur asked him.

"Oh, take off those earplugs already!" he grabbed the earplugs and took them off.

"What's wrong with you?! If he orders me around he will turn me against you! Do you want that?!" Arthur shouted.

"No but... Max is nowhere to be found and maybe only the two of us are left. If we leave, all those people in the bar will die and that will be my fault." Jon thought.

"Who?"

"Oh, right... You had already left... Breed used his ability on other people as well. I had to shoot them down to prevent them from chasing us... They pleaded me to do so! I can't let them die now! The moment I did what they wanted, I also became responsible about their survival, at least for today!" Jon yelled.

"Hm?"

"I am going." he opened his luggage and grabbed his sniper. "I will stop that bastard!"

"I see..." Arthur smiled. "I guess it can't be helped. I am coming to." he unsheathed his sword and they both looked at the dragon who kept firing flamethrowers, bringing havoc with a single breath. The two of them had a very serious look on their faces, which would soon change to a smiley one.

* * *

"BREED!" a voice echoed seconds later at the place the two members of the Jumping Pirates were, coming from a place near Breed and Fairy.

"Hm?" Breed looked below, noticing a figure he could not recognize, even if he was familar with the voice. The figure was that of a young man who was wearing a straw hat on his hand. His fists were clenched, prepared for battle.

"YOU WERE RIGHT! EVERYTHING IS STARTING NOW!" the man performed a very high jump towards the dragon, revealing himself to be none other than Max, wearing Fairy's straw hat which fell on the ground after her transformation.

* * *

**[Next: Max faces off against Breed Jr. on top of Fairy's monster dragon form!]**

**[Characters: Million Max, Arthur, Jon Act, Fairy D. Angelie, Breed Jr., Tab, Civilians]**

**[Devil Fruit: Jump Jump Fruit, Bat Bat Fruit, Pet Pet Fruit, Unknown Mythical Zoan Fruit]**

**[Techniques: Pet Pet Collar Army, Pet Pet Plague, Sword Gust]**


	12. The defeated demon!

After a hard battle and with the assistance of Jon, Arthur eventually defeated Tab. However, by the time the two comrades were done, Breed completed his plan after overpowering Max. He used the Rumble Balls he created to transform Fairy into a monster hybrid of a dragon and a human, forcing her to burn down the three Basic Islands. After he was done with Red Island, the two moved at Yellow Island to do their job. And just when Arthur and Jon were prepared to face the captain of the Demon Pirates and try to stop him, Max appeared wearing Fairy's straw hat, yelling at Breed that he was not done yet before he jumped on the dragon's back for the final showdown with Breed! The future of the three islands was on Max's hands!

"Million Max... You are the most persistent person I have ever met." Breed spoke angrily.

"You are the most disgusting person I ever met."

"That's your opinion. But I don't think it is going to matter when I get done with you!" Breed started stabbing the air with his trident, launching a barrage attack of air bullets towards Max's direction. "Master's Shot!"

"ARGHHHHHH!" Max tried to endure the damage from the air bullets. Although he had the option to jump around, it was somewhat difficult. The dragon monster was moving around the area very quickly and Max had to get used to the speed before he could move with more freedom on the back.

"What's the matter? Oh yes... You are afraid you are going to fall, aren't you?!" Breed questioned Max while still using his air bullet technique.

"I can't take anymore... I have passed my limits way eariler... I have to avoid getting hit as much as possible!" Max finally started jumping around the enormous dragon's back, avoiding the bullets.

"Fairy, fly up and down, sweetie!" Breed ordered the dragon to start flying up and down so that Max would lose his balance while landing on her back. That way, he would either leave an opening for an attack, or he would fall down to the burning town.

"How am I supposed to strike him?! I don't have any ranged techniques... And if I get close, he might use his powers to enslave me before killing me!" Max thought while landing on the dragon's back. Then, he lied on the ground, grabbing the dragon's large scales in order to hold himself. "And that bastard... Why isn't he losing his balance?!" Max was surprised to see Breed standing, despite the way the dragon flied after his command.

"Try holding yourself won't do a thing! You will eventually slip and fall!"

"What about you?!" Max asked.

"Are you blind?" Breed pointed with his head at his trident, which he grabbed with both hands. He had stabbed it on Fairy's back to hold himself.

"!" Max was getting even angrier with Breed because of his abuse on Fairy's body, even if he had already turned her into a monster.

"Enough Fairy! Stop!" Breed commanded while pulling his trident, running at Max's direction with great speed. He stood above him and he moved his weapon in an attempt to stab the captain of the Jumping Pirates at his hands. "Trident Edge!"

"I mustn't let him hit me!" Max let off his hands and he was blown away because of the wind. After all, Fairy was flying with great speeds so the wind on her back was pretty strong. Max's body was dragged by the wind with great force, dragging him to the end of the dragon's tail. Just before he fell from the back, the captain grabbed the tail and still held himself.

"Master's Shot!" Breed launched a few air bullets at him with his trident.

"JUMP!" Max used his ability to make things jump on the dragon's tail and thus the tail moved upwards very quickly, moving the young man who was barely hanging on it from the area of the attack. Then, Max jumped on Fairy's back, standing on his feet once again.

"Pet Pet Collar Army!" Breed attempted to use his ability on Max, seeing how he always managed to find a way to make a comeback, even if he was struggling from the beginning.

"Now is my chance... I guess I have to try it... It's now or never!" the young man started falling straightfoward, up to the point his body formed an angle of less than 20 degrees with Fairy's back.

"Hm?!" Breed looked at him, trying to figure out what he was about to do.

"Jumping Rocket!" Max used his jumping ability while his body almost fell. With his feet standing somewhere it was possible to use his power to jump. However, that jump was instead a swift and fast dash, thanks to the stance he put his body into before he performed it.

"Huh?" Breed stared at Max, who was coming towards him like a rocket, spinning his body in the process to avoid Breed's weird ability, dodging them with grace.

"JUMPING UPPERCUT!" as soon as Max reached Breed he performed a swift and powerful uppercut, striking Breed at the jaw and sending him high on the sky.

"ARRRRRRRRRGH!" blood was spit to Max from above as the attack was strong enough to make the "jumping" Breed cough some of it.

"That wasn't enough!" Max thought while looking at Breed.

"SAVE ME, FAIRY!" Breed yelled while falling from the sky, from a great height.

"RAWWWWWWWWR!" the dragon let out a flamethrower, still buring Yellow Island before she flew at below Breed, resulting in him falling on her back.

"You are not the only one who manages to survive..." Breed got up. "I guess I have to become more serious!" Breed dropped his trident from the dragon's back, before both his hands were surrounded by the weird jelly-like substance he could create.

"What is he up to?!" Max thought, looking at the enemy with his eyes twitched. Max had seen too many things from Breed so it was natural even for him to be surprised and slightly scared of what he was about to do.

"PET PET MASTER!" he grabbed his own neck with both hands, as if he was strangling himself. But, what was really going on was something completely different. A few seconds later, he moved his hand downwards, revealing a red colored collar around his neck. "This is it... The ultimate power of my fruit!" he yelled. "PEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PEHAHAHAHAHAHA! PEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Breed started laughing like a maniac as his body started transforming. It slowly grew larger and larger, same for the muscles of his arms. His white colored coat was destroyed, leaving him only with his pants. Only the white part of his eyes was visible and his red colored hair became much longer, reaching his butt. The demon horns on his forehead also got larger, looking as big as those of a real demon and the paint around his eyes was now covering his whole face, turning it into red. "PEHAHAHAHAHA! PEHAHAHAHAHA!" he kept laughing.

"Now I realize why his crew is called the Demon Pirates..." Max gulped while looking at Breed.

"What's the matter, boy?! Are you too scared?!" Breed spoke with a deep voice that echoed through the skies. "MASTER'S ULTIMATE SHOT!" he started moving his palms forward and backwards rapidly, launching larger air bullets than before, but this time with his bare hands.

* * *

"What's going on up there?" Arthur and Jon were watching at the dragon that was wrecking havoc from a hill, sitting along with all the people Jon was forced to shoot before. All the people were chained so that they wouldn't keep following Breed's orders and attack Jon. They tried to break the chains but it was difficult. As a result, they would speak while struggling to attack Jon.

"Thank you... You really saved us." one of the people thanked Jon. "You, too." he looked at Arthur.

"We couldn't let you die..." Jon said.

"That sick bastard, Breed... He has really burnt this place to ashes!" Arthur said while looking at the fire at the town. "I just hope nobody has been killed. I mean, this place is a town... There can't be only you, right?" Arthur asked.

"They are fine... They must have hidden in the hideouts the marines built for us." a man commented.

"Huh? Do you have marines, here?" Jon was surprised. "Then why are we trying to stop that bastard?"

"Oh crap!" Arthur said. "That's right! That annoying bat mentioned something about the marines. In the commotion, I totally forgot." Arthur said.

"That's bad! I will have to either fight them or hide in case they find me. I already have a bounty on my head!" he facepalmed.

"It's okay... As long as they are not here, we have nothing to worry about." Arthur said. "I guess they are coming from a nearby island, right?" Arthur asked one of the citizens.

"Actually, no... They are coming from Blue Island. That's why it is called Blue Island. It's the area of the navy." he replied.

"WHAT?!" Arthur and Jon jawdropped.

* * *

"JUMP!" Max jumped high on the sky, once again, before landing a few meters behind Breed.

"STOP RUNNING ALREADY!" Breed turned at Max and kept using his technique, attacking the pirate with air bullets he created with his palms that looked more like blasts.

"They are faster than before?!" Max was surprised to see the attacks reaching him before he was struck once again, falling on the floor. Fairy's straw hat would fall from his head, right next to him, revealing his dark curly hair. "Hm..." he started thinking.

"You are done for..." Breed was already above Max, clenching his fist to punch him with a very strong punch.

"No way!" Max rolled his body away and he immediately got up. He messed with his hair a little bit, an habit he had and then he took his battling stance, clenching both fists and pointing with them at Breed. "Let's finish it now with one punch!"

"You are right..." Breed smiled and started running at Max, pretty confident regarding his strength. "That will be easy for me!" he boasted while moving.

"Jump!" Max performed a jump, jumping above Breed and landing a few meters behind him, once again.

"Huh?! What are you doing?! Did you fool me?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Breed realized something wrong was going on.

"I didn't lie to you... As I said, I am ending this with one punch." Max turned his body and looked at him. His right hand's index and middle finger were crossed, indicating he was about to do something.

"You filthy scum!" Breed was about to launch his air bullets once again.

"Jumping Parasite!" Max spoke quietly for a moment while moving his right hand upwards keeping his fingers crossed the whole time. "Flying Parasite!" he screamed afterwards.

"What the..." Breed's body started jumping upwards on its own, as if it was controled with telekinesis. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"I have just thrown some of my hair on you... My Jump Jump Fruit ability allows me to make anything I touch jump, as well, as long as I stand somewhere or as long as I am in contact with it... And my hair which are standing on you are actually a part of myself. I can't jump consecutively on the sky, but I can force something I have contact with to jump for as long as I want." Max explained.

"NO!" Breed was shocked, losing his temper even more. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" he yelled out in agony.

"It's all over Breed. Your perfect plan is over!" Max kept raising his hand with his crossed fingers, making Breed jump and jump and jump to the point that he reached a height of at least two kilometers from the ground.

* * *

"What is that thing on the sky, flying?" Arthur asked.

"The dragon, I guess?" Jon replied.

"Are you an idiot? Can't you see the dragon?"

"I was just joking... I don't know..."

"It's like it's constantly jumping... And it's now falling." the swordsman kept talking.

"Could it be Max?" Jon asked.

"No, he can't perform consecutive jumps, I think..."

"It's falling..." the sniper looked at the object falling.

"Yes... And now something else is moving towards it!" Arthur saw another unintentified object moving upwards.

* * *

"I CAN'T LOSE! I HAVE A MONSTER DRAGON UNDER MY COMMAND! I AM THE MAN WHO IS GOING TO BECOME THE PIRATE KING EVENTUALLY!" Breed screamed while falling.

"No!" Max picked up Fairy's straw hat and wore it. "THERE IS ONLY ONE VACANT POSITION FOR THE PIRATE KING... AND THAT BELONGS TO ME!" Max performed a high jump towards the falling captain of the Demon Pirates. "Jumping..."

"STOP!"

"UPPERCUT!" he let out his signature attack at its strongest form. The force of the falling enemy, combined with the force of his jumping attack was more than enough to amplify the attack's power, especially as it hit Breed at the stomach.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Breed was launched upwards once again with a great speed, spitting extreme amounts of blood on the impact and falling unconscious on the spot. Breed's defeated body was falling from the sky for a while until it reached the center of the fire at the town...

"NOW IT HAS ENDED!" Max landed on Fairy's back, watching at green colored collar vanishing.

"The collars!" Jon noticed the collars disappearing.

"That means..." a citizen spoke with a happy face.

"Yes..." Arthur grabbed his empty neck.

"Breed has been..."

"Defeated!" Arthur and Jon shouted hugging each other out of relief.

"Welcome back, pal." a tear fell from Jon's eye while looking at Arthur.

"You are way too sensitive, you know." Arthur ruined the moment, resulting in Jon smashing him with his luggage.

"Jerk!" Jon yelled at the swordsman while still crying.

"Haha... I was joking." Arthur grabbed his injured face.

* * *

"Sir! Sir!" a few miles away, on Blue Island, a marine was looking through a telescope.

"What is it? I am speaking with Commodore Lysandre! We are making plans to deal with Breed!" the boss replied. "Can't you realize the situation is crucial?!"

"Well... Breed has been defeated, sir!" the marine yelled, surprised.

"Breed did what?!" the marine was shocked. "Who could pull that off?!" the marine run at the place of his subordinate and he pushed him aside, looking through the telescope. "No way..." he whispered, his body chilling while looking through the telescope.

"Do you see now?"

"No way... That man... Was it my idea or was he wearing a straw hat?" the marine leader wanted to be sure he clearly saw what happened.

"Yes, he did sir..."

"Who is that guy? Did you recognize him? I doubt he lacks a bounty!"

"Well, he has one..." the subordinate grabbed a bounty poster, showing it at his leader. "But it's a small one. 5,000,000 beri, sir."

"I doubt that will be his bounty for long..." the marine commented while picking up his Den Den Mushi.

* * *

As soon as the collar vanished, Fairy started getting better. The transformation became more unstable as she tried to regain her will. Her body started shrinking and shrinking and her dragon form was slowly landing on the ground, while reverting back to normal. The scales started vanishing and the more she shrunk, the more her natural body color appeared. Her eyes regained their original lavender color and her hair appeared once again. Her giant arms became normal and the wings got inside her body slowly.

"FAIRY!" Max screamed, a few seconds before Fairy completely reverted back to herself. "I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, BUT I WILL TELL IT NOW! BEFORE EVERYTHING STARTED, I PROMISED YOU SOMETHING! I TOLD YOU THAT I WOULD STOP THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE AFTER YOU AND I DID! JOIN MY CREW!" he yelled with his loudest voice so that all his friends would listen to him. He was inviting the female navigator to the crew!


End file.
